Michel and Peeters woo investors in Japan

Prime minister Charles Michel and federal foreign trade minister Kris Peeters are on an economic mission to Japan this week, hosting industry at a seminar to discuss why Belgium is the right place to invest. Michel told the crowd that memories of institutional crises in Belgium belong firmly in the past. “We are now in a totally different setting and have moved in another direction,” he said.

Peeters laid out the seven good reasons for investing in Belgium, including access to major European markets, infrastructure, the presence of international institutions and schools (including a Japanese school in Brussels) and the reasonably priced market for office real estate.

“And what about taxation?” Peeters asked, before going on to explain the difference between nominal tariffs and the actual tax bill. The double taxation treaty with Japan is being renegotiated, he explained and promised to be more beneficial for companies.

Earlier in the visit, Peeters had words with Japanese trade minister Toshimitsu Motegi about the treatment of Belgian beers in Japan, calling their regulations on beer imports “unacceptable”.

Belgian beers are not classified in Japan as beer but as “sparkling alcohol”. The reason is Japan’s strict definition of beer as containing more than 67% malt, which excludes most Belgian beers. At the same time, Japan applies a higher rate of excise duty to all drinks with more than 50% malt.

“Belgian beers are therefore not beers, but still fall under the most heavily taxed category of beers,” Peeters said. Minister Motegi, he said later, promised the question of excise duties would be reviewed within the year.

Photo: Kris Peeters (left) and Charles Michel convince Japanese business leaders to strongly consider Belgium for their next international investment
(c)Benoit Doppagne/BELGA