Policy

Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem and Dutch State Secretary for Benefits and Customs Aukje de Vries presented the results of drug seizures for the year 2022 in the international ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam at a joint press conference. Both customs services combined seized 160 tonnes of cocaine in 2022.  

It’s my pleasure to host you here at this Symposium. I also would like to thank everyone for participating, digitally or physically. Special thanks go to our respective administrations for their preparation of this event. I am very happy to see that the event today has brought together private sector, public sector, as well as the academic sector in order to discuss and contemplate upon the topic at hand.

In the context of continuing efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, momentum is growing for action on climate change. Therefore, Belgium recently joined the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action.

The coronavirus crisis has greatly increased the pressure on food banks. We need to encourage companies and businesses to donate to charitable organisations goods that are vital but not saleable. That is why we are making it more fiscally advantageous to donate than to throw away.