The group, Aigo Entrepreneurs Alliance (AEA), first sent a delegation to Belgium in December last year to scout out the prospect of using the country as a stepping-stone to the European market. Federal pensions minister Vincent Van Quickenborne then met a senior group executive when he was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January.

Peeters, meanwhile, headed a trade mission to China in 2010 during the World Expo in Shanghai, which led to Chinese cooperation with waste management agency OVAM and an agreement between the Beijing Construction Engineering Group and water-treatment company Aquafin.

“The intensive contacts of the last two years have borne fruit,” Peeters said after AEA’s announcement. “This is enormously important for Flanders and for our ports, to be able to function as the hub for Chinese-European trade. It also offers major opportunities for the creation of jobs, as well as for our exports to China.”