A Belgian minister said Europe must get used to investment by Chinese and Indian companies and should find out more about steel group Mittal?s offer for rival Arcelor before making a decision.

?There?s no need to say we should reject one project without first informing ourselves about it,? Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said on French LCI television. Rotterdam-based Mittal, which is controlled by Indian-born Lakshmi Mittal, announced its unsolicited $23 billion bid to combine the world?s top two steel firms in late January. French Finance Minister Thierry Breton has said he has ?profound concerns? about a bid he called ill-prepared and hostile.

Breton said in remarks also published on Tuesday that Paris had a duty to make its voice heard about the good and bad points of an offer affecting 28 000 French jobs.

?We have perhaps a slightly different stance to the first reaction in France,? Reynders said. Luxembourg-based Arcelor has about 15 400 employees in Belgium, but officials have taken a wait-and-see approach.

The country?s sosuthern Walloon region owns 2.3 percent of the steelmaker. Reynders said European companies must get used to the increasing competition from economic giants China and India. ?We are moving into a world with different players,? he said.