Pakistan Belgium Business Forum (PBBF) is planning to take Belgian Food Festival to the national level, said Mohammed A. Rajpar, President PBBF while addressing the inauguration ceremony of Belgian Food Festival organised by PBBF and Marriot Karachi with the support of Royal Belgian Embassy at a local hotel here on Saturday.
H.E. Hans Christian Kint, Belgian Ambassador to Pakistan has made an important contribution towards improving relationship between Belgium and Pakistan, Rajpar said. The ceremony started with holding the moment of silence for the victims of recent CID Headquarter blast in Karachi. Rajpar said that due to poor law and order situation the festival was being organised every after five years but PBBF was planning to organise it annually.
He said that to encourage and promote business, mutual understanding and friendly relations between the business communities of Pakistan and Belgium they should try to organise this event on annual basis and take it to the national level. He hoped that with the support and guidance of Belgium PBBF they would be able to do it.
He said that PBBF would continue to play its role in developing strong trade and economic relationships between both countries. The ceremony was then followed by the address of the chief guest, H.E. Hans Christian Kint, Belgian Ambassador to Pakistan. He appreciated the idea of organising Belgian Food Festival annually and said that their co-operation was always with Pakistan and PBBF, adding that the festival would also be organised in Lahore and other parts of the country.
He said that the relations between Pakistan and Belgium were strong and PBBF had made its contribution to improve it. The ambassador said that as Pakistan was passing through a difficult situation due to recent flood, they assured their support to help Pakistan recover from this terrible disaster. He said that economically the entire world had seen financial and economic crisis but their trade relations with Pakistan did not suffer. Belgium was also a part of European Union and they were trying to get Pakistan better trade deals, he added.
Later, the chief guest, H.E. Hans Christian Kint, Belgian Ambassador to Pakistan inaugurated the festival. In order to add array of aromas and tastes to the Belgian cuisine at Belgian Food Festival, Arnaud Pintor Karsenti, Chef from Marriott Brussels has arrived in Karachi.
While briefing the guests about the food served on the occasion Karsenti said that it was an honour for him to visit Pakistan and he was looking forward to visit Pakistan in future as well. The festival enabled epicures of Karachi to explore and enjoy the myriad of tastes and flavours of Belgian food, he added.
The Belgian Food Festival was organised to open new avenues and to give opportunities to the entrepreneurs of Pakistan to import delicious products from Belgium and greater advantage to find Belgian business partners in future, he said.