CHAPTER 2 BUILDING GLOBAL SKILLS 1. What was the total value of U.S. imports from Belgium last year? Of U.S. exports to Belgium? The total value of U.S. imports from Belgium last year is 17.3 billion US $ and U.S. exports to Belgium is 29.4 billion US $. 2. What is the total level of U.S. investments in Belgium? Of Belgium investments in the United States? The total level of U.S. investments in Belgium is 70 billion US $ and Belgium investments in the United States is 88.7 billion US $. 3. Profile the economy of Belgium. What is its GDP? What is its per capita income? How fast is its economy growing? What are its major exports and imports? Who are its major trading partners? The modern, private enterprise economy of Belgium has capitalised on its central geographic location, highly developed transport network, and diversified industrial and commercial base. The first country to undergo an industrial revolution on the continent of Europe in the early 19th century, Belgium developed an excellent transportation infrastructure of ports, canals, railways, and highways to integrate its industry with that of its neighbors. Industry is concentrated mainly in the populous Flanders in the north, around Brussels and in the two biggest Walloon cities, Liège and Charleroi, along the sillon industriel. Belgium imports raw materials and semi-finished goods that are further processed and re-exported. Except for its coal, which is no longer economical to exploit, Belgium has few natural resources other than fertile soils. Nonetheless, most traditional industrial sectors are represented in the economy, including steel, textiles, refining, chemicals, food processing, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, electronics, and machinery fabrication. Despite the heavy industrial component, services account for 74.9% of GDP, while agriculture accounts for only 1% of GDP. With exports equivalent to over two-thirds of GNP, Belgium depends heavily on world trade. Belgium's trade advantages are derived from its central geographic location and a highly skilled, multilingual, and productive work force. One of the founding members of the European Community, Belgium strongly supports deepening the powers of the present-day European Union to integrate European economies further. About three-quarters of its trade is with other EU countries. Together with the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Belgium is also one of Benelux member states. Belgium's public debt is about 98% of GDP. The government succeeded in balancing its budget during the 2000–2008 period, and income distribution is relatively equal. Belgium began circulating the euro currency in January 2002. Economic growth and foreign direct investment dropped in 2008. In 2009 Belgium is likely to have negative growth, growing unemployment, and a 3% budget deficit, stemming from the worldwide banking crisis. The GDP of Belgium is $419.6 billion and its per capita income is and its economy growth at the rate of -0.2%. The major exports of Belgium are machinery and equipment, chemicals, finished diamonds, metals and metal products, foodstuffs and the major imports are raw materials, machinery and equipment, chemicals, raw diamonds, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, transport equipment, oil products. The major trading partners of Belgium are Germany 18.0%,France 16.1%,Netherlands 13.0%,United Kingdom 7.3%,United States 5.3%,Italy 4.4%,Netherlands 20.9%,Germany 14.2%,France 10.6%,United States 6.1%,United Kingdom 5.5%,Republic of Ireland 4.4%. 4. Profile the people of Belgium: What languages do they speak? What is their average educational level? What is their life expectancy? How fast is the population growing? Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, which used to cover a somewhat larger area than the current Benelux group of states. The region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, which covered more or less the same area. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, the area of Belgium was a prosperous and cosmopolitan centre of commerce and culture. From the 16th century until the Belgian Revolution in 1830, when Belgium seceded from the Netherlands, the area of Belgium served as the battleground between many European powers, causing it to be dubbed the "Battlefield of Europe,"[10] a reputation strengthened by both World Wars. Upon its independence, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution[11][12] and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa.[13] The second half of the 20th century was marked by rising tensions between the Flemish and the Francophones fueled by differences in language and the unequal economic development of Flanders and Wallonia. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement, and several governmental crises, the most recent — from 2007 to 2011 — being the longest. The people of Belgium speak Dutch, French, German. Education is compulsory from 6 to 18 years of age for Belgians.[127] Among OECD countries in 2002, Belgium had the third highest proportion of 18- to 21-year-olds enrolled in postsecondary education, at 42%.[128] Though an estimated 99% of the adult population is literate, concern is rising over functional illiteracy.[126][129] The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Belgium's education as the 19th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.[130] Education being organised separately by each, the Flemish Community scores noticeably above the French and German- speaking Communities.Mirroring the dual structure of the 19th-century Belgian political landscape, characterized by the Liberal and the Catholic parties, the educational system is segregated within a secular and a religious segment. The secular branch of schooling is controlled by the communities, the provinces, or the municipalities, while religious, mainly Catholic branch education, is organised by religious authorities, although subsidized and supervised by the communities. The Belgians are known to enjoy good health. According to 2012 estimates, the average life expectancy is 79.65 years.[63] Since 1960, life expectancy has, in line with the European average, grown by two months per year. Death in Belgium is mainly due to heart and vascular disorders, neoplasms, disorders of the respiratory system and unnatural causes of death (accidents, suicide). Non-natural causes of death and cancer are the most common causes of death for females up to age 24 and males up to age 44. Healthcare in Belgium is financed through both social security contributions and taxation. Health insurance is compulsory. Health care is delivered by a mostly private system of independent medical practitioners and hospitals. Most of the time each provided service is directly paid by the patient and reimbursed later on by health insurance companies.[144] Belgian health care system is supervised and financed by the federal government, the three Communities and the three Regions, i.e. six distinct Ministries (the Flemish Community and Region have merged). Belgium had a population of 10,839,905 people on January 1, 2010, an increase of 601,000 in comparison to 2000 (10,239,085 inhabitants). Between 1990 (9,947,782 inhabitants) and 2000 the increase was only 291,000. The population of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels on January 1, 2010 was 6,251,983 (57.7%), 3,498,384 (32.3%) and 1,089,538 (10.1%), respectively. CHAPTER 2 CLOSING CASE 1. Why has India been able to build a thriving software industry? What are the country’s advantages in this market? What are the country’s disadvantages? India has been able to build a thriving software industry due to its good educational system which has enabled India to produce a large number of well and highly qualified soft ware engineers. India’s low labour cost has also contributed to the growth of the soft ware industry by increasing the demand for software experts by foreign firms. e.g. USA and European firms import Indian software experts due to the low wages (labour cost). The country’s advantages in the market include the economic reforms which has made industry a powerful force for modernising Indian’s economy, the industry has also improved India’s economy inform of increased GDP through foreign direct investments. However, India's lack of infrastructure and low standard of living make it difficult for programmers to remain working in India and the economic policies have failed to fully utilise the increasing talent from the University graduates which has led to increased brain drain or influx of It experts into America and the European countries, this high influx may affect India’s economy negatively in the long run, another disadvantage is the India’s overburdened telecommunication infrastructure and electrical grid which has made most industries look for alternative sources of energy, 2. How important is it for India to stem the flow of skilled engineers to countries like Canada, the United States and those in the EU? Research on the issue of Indian brain drain remains divided. One view is that southward migration does not seem to pose a problem when it comes to the number of movers. This is supported by Zhao, Drew and Murray (2000) and more recent research by Helliwell (SRI-2006) and Finnie (SRI-2006a). The flow number is relatively small; much less than one per cent of the population per year, and the departure rate is decreasing, while return migration has been increasing since 2000.4 Data from the U.S. census supports the notion of brain exchange or brain circulation. It shows an increase in the temporary stays of Indians in the United States since the 1990s. More Indian-born people, especially those with university education, are living in the United States under temporary working arrangements.