In the context of the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping and First Lady Peng Liyuan to Belgium, CFL president & co-founder Thomas Baert had the honor of meeting both Mr. Xi as well as the Belgian Royal Couple at the College of Europe in Bruges.
After his meeting with the Chinese president, Thomas Baert, who started working in China 18 years ago and where he co-founded CFL in 2004, was interviewed by the local television channel Focus WTV, mentioning “This is a real coronation for every Belgian person. Today you need to be proud. This is the recognition of the year long cooperation between our province and China. This is a very important moment … the proof of the importance of Bruges and our country.”
Belgium was one of the first Western countries who established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, in 1971.