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King Philippe of Belgium had a meeting with the founder of Chinese Internet giant Alibaba on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
This was not the first encounter between the Belgian monarch and the Chinese billionaire. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde are Davos regulars and last year, their agenda also included a meeting with Jack Ma.
Ma’s successor at the head of Alibaba, Daniel Zhang, was also present at Wednesday’s meeting, whose focus included the Chinese online trade giant’s investments in Liège and cloud technology. The Chinese plan to set up a European hub at the Liège airport.
The royal couple’s agenda further includes meetings with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, and Denmark’s Jim Hagemann-Snabe, president of the Siemens conglomerate and Maersk shipping company.
Maria Novak
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