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NEWS & PUBLICATIONSBelgium Today August 2010On the 21st of July, Belgium’s national holiday, Ambassador Jan Matthysen and his wife Agnes hosted a reception for the Belgian and international community. On the warm summer evening, over 500 guests enjoyed an array of Belgian specialties in the beautiful garden of the Belgian residence. The Ambassador took the opportunity to present the new EU Ambassador, Joao Vale de Almeida, as the man in pole position when it comes to representing the European Union in the United States. Howard Gutman, American Ambassador to Belgium, and Kris Dierckx, Director of Flanders House, were also introduced to the assembled guests. “With the United States, we enjoy a stable and very old relationship,” Ambassador Matthysen said in his welcoming remarks. “On the 21st of July 1831, 179 years ago, the first Belgian King was sworn in, and within one year, in 1832, this newly established state established a diplomatic mission in Washington, with the very urgent and pressing task of negotiating better access to American markets for the Belgian textile industry. Since then, this relationship has been thriving in all possible dimensions.” The reception was the highlight of a week of culinary festivities that started on July 15th with a Belgian Beer dinner at Ambassador Matthysen’s residence, and continued with happy hours, a mussels competition, and a chocolate fest at local Belgian restaurants, including Brasserie Beck, Belga Café and Et Voila. SPEECH AMBASSADOR MATTHYSEN AT THE NATIONAL DAY RECEPTION: Excellencies, Dear Colleagues and Friends, Beste Landgenoten, Mes Chers Compatriotes, Meine Liebe Landsleute, On behalf of my wife Agnes, and of all the staff of the Belgian Embassy, I welcome you to this festive, traditional celebration of Belgium’s national holiday. In particular, I would like to wish my compatriots here a very happy and joyous National Day. I hope you have a good time here with us. Have you already found and tasted your favorite Belgian beer? The fantastic Belgian restaurants in Washington are represented here as well. Belgian cuisine is doing very well these days. I call it Belgian culinary diplomacy. Our Embassy chef, Jan van Haute, has celebrity status here in DC: he won the competition as the Best Embassy Chef. All the Belgian chefs in DC are celebrating a Belgian Week in their restaurants. Last week the Belgian chefs prepared a wonderful Belgian dinner for 130 guests at my residence, to promote Belgian cuisine. As an ambassador, I feel blessed to represent a country famous for its quality of living, good food, chocolate, waffles and beers. But Belgium is much more, of course. We are for the world and for America a huge partner for investment, in both ways. Hundreds of thousands of jobs rely on investments, also in the United States. Trade volumes are impressive, and remain at high levels and in high quality sectors. One example: 10 days ago, a delegation from Microsoft Belgium came to visit us, with 120 Belgian entrepreneurs, all partners with Microsoft. With the United States, we enjoy a stable and very old relationship. On the 21st of July 1831, 179 years ago, the first Belgian King was sworn in, and within one year, in 1832, this newly established state established a diplomatic mission in Washington, with the very urgent and pressing task of negotiating better access to the American markets for the Belgian textile industry. Since then, this relationship has been thriving in all possible dimensions. We have human bonds through immigration from our country; we commemorate unforgotten military sacrifices, like the Battle of the Bulge in 44-45, or Flanders Fields in the First World War. As an ally, Belgium sent more than 3000 troops to Korea (60 years ago). We were with troops in Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia, Lebanon, Africa, and currently are in Afghanistan in Kunduz and Kabul, and in Kandahar with a squadron of our F-16 fighter planes. In these 180 years of independence, Belgians were able to build a sophisticated society, with complicated and ever-evolving political checks and balances, not easy to understand from the outside. But we achieved one of the highest living standards worldwide, with rich cultural diversity and creativity, science, education, social and medical care. We assumed our responsibilities in the world, and we were at the forefront of the major diplomatic achievements of the modern world: the creation of the European Union, of the Transatlantic Alliance, and the United Nations. Today, I want to introduce three very important persons to you. First : His Excellency the Ambassador of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Belgium, my good friend, colleague and counterpart, Howard Gutman. He’s only been in Belgium for one year, but everybody knows him there, he speaks all our languages, and he has been on every TV channel. And he’s a very modern, innovative ambassador, working not just for the American interests in Belgium, but advocating for our interests in Washington with the same dynamic enthusiasm. Thank you, Howard. Belgium now holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, for the 11th time. This means that Belgium is presiding over almost all the Council formations in Brussels. But after the Lisbon Treaty, the external representation of the European Union is no longer done by the rotating presidency, but by Baroness Ashton, the High Representative of the EU for Common Foreign and Security Policy. Therefore, it is crucial and a lucky coincidence that I can introduce here today the newly arrived EU Ambassador, Joao Vale de Almeida. And he’s very Belgian too: he lived in Brussels for more than 20 years. From now on, he’s the number one representing the EU in Washington. The third VIP I want to introduce is the Director of Flanders House in New York, Mr. Kris Dierckx. The newly created Flanders House will serve as the representation of the Government of Flanders. This reflects a reality in the institutional and constitutional changes in the Kingdom of Belgium, which is a federal state. We wish Kris Dierckx and Flanders House a very successful future. Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen, as a token of appreciation for the excellent relationship between the United States and the Kingdom of Belgium, I will invite you to join me- twice- in a toast to the respective Heads of State, after listening to the National Anthems. To the President of the United States of America To His Majesty the King of the Belgians Belgium has partnered with the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles to present “Grit and Whimsy: The Best of Recent Belgian Cinema,” a series showcasing six recent feature films. The series opened on July 21 – Belgian National Day -- with the breathtaking thriller Dossier K. and will run through December, on the third Wednesday of each month. The roster includes the coming-of-age comedy Private Lessons, the delightful romp The Over the Hill Band, and the dramatic Angel at Sea. Belgium’s submission to the Best Foreign Language Film of the 2011 Academy Awards will be shown in November and a surprise movie will be on the program in December. It is expected that some of the filmmakers and actors will attend the screenings. In an interview with “Cinema Without Borders,” Geert Criel, Belgium’s Consul General in Los Angeles, was asked why he decided to choose a screening series over running a festival. “It seemed like a good idea not to concentrate the screening of some of the best recent Belgian movies in only one week,” he explained. “We wanted to create a monthly “appointment” with Belgian cinema… This should give many people a chance to see the movies and some might even see them all! We plan to make it a complete Belgian experience by offering a glass of Belgian beer before or after the screenings.” The films will be shown at the Egyptian theater in Hollywood or the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Program and ticket information is available at www.americancinematheque.com. Belgian cinema, be it from Flanders or from the French-speaking part of the country, has risen to international prominence, boasting richly diverse and original films. From the unsettling but still urgently relevant Man Bites Dog, which rocked the Cannes Film Festival in 1992, and the quirky and vibrant tale of identity mix-up in Toto Le Héros, to the monumental saga of Daens or the Oscar nominated Everybody Famous, the string of critically lauded dramatic works of the brilliant duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Farinelli, The Eighth Day, Memory of a Killer, Moscow, Belgium, or The Misfortunates. The list goes on and on. The capacity of Belgian cinema to tell new stories, funny or realistic, happy or sad, but always surprising and captivating, is striking. In 2009, Belgium produced 34 feature films, 171 shorts and some 75 documentaries. A two-track approach makes sure that both mainstream and art-house films are produced. The film sector benefits from the support of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund and the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel. On the national level, a “tax shelter,” which has proven very successful, offers tax benefits to Belgian companies or enterprises that invest in audiovisual work, short and feature films, TV fiction and documentaries. Producers in Belgium also have access to European sources of financing, Eurimages of the Council of Europe and the MEDIA program of the European Commission. More information on these opportunities are available at www.belgiumfilm.be . Belgian Presidency's New Socieconomic strategy Laurette Onkelinx, Belgium’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health, contributed an article to the summer 2010 edition of The Journal, a publication of AARP International. Mrs. Onkelinx states that “The ambition of the Belgian Presidency of the European Union (EU) is to lay the foundation for the continent’s new socioeconomic strategy until the year 2020. To this end, it will be necessary to restart the economy, reregulate financial markets, solidify social cohesion, and pave the way for a successful transition to a more ecologically sound vision of economic, industrial and social progress. These are the four basic pillars of the new socioeconomic foundation, from which we can make positive changes in our modes of production and consumption. These pillars must be built concurrently, without one gaining priority over the others.” Discover Belgium in this short video. It shows the geographic and cultural diversity of our country and includes contemporary art, architecture, fashion and the Belgian quality of life. Click here to watch the movie
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