Francois Lenoir / Reuters

A worker adjusts pieces of a U.S. national flag at the Waelkens flag company in Oostrozebeke, Belgium, on Feb. 4.

Francois Lenoir / Reuters

A worker sews stars on a U.S. national flag at the Waelkens flag company in Oostrozebeke, Belgium, on Feb. 4.

By Teddy Nykiel, Reuters

Published at 3:00 p.m. ET: When President Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term on January 21, it's a decent bet that one of the flags fluttering behind him on the U.S. Capitol was made in Belgium.

The Waelkens flag company, based in the small town of Oostrozebeke in Flanders, supplies around 2,000 flags a year to the United States, with clients including the Pentagon and other U.S. government departments as well as the United Nations.

But it's not just the far side of the Atlantic where the company is gaining ground - it also makes flags for NATO, national militaries, the European Union and just about every country in the world, from China to Nigeria.

"We have a lot of know-how about how we have to make flags and a big tradition of embroidery," said Benedikt Waelkens, who runs the company with his brother, David. "There aren't a lot of people in the world who can and are making handmade flags."

Continue reading.

Related:

In Pakistan's largest city, 'Old Glory' is flammable and profitable

Francois Lenoir / Reuters

A worker rolls out blue fabric at the Waelkens flag company in Oostrozebeke, Belgium, on Feb. 4.

Laurent Dubrule / Reuters

Arcelor Mittal workers from several Liege steel plants clash with riot policemen during a demonstration outside the Walloon Region parliament in Namur on Jan. 29. Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel producer, plans to shut a coke plant and six finishing lines at its site in Liege, Belgium, affecting 1,300 employees, the group said last week.

Yves Herman / Reuters

Arcelor Mittal workers from several Liege steel plants clash with riot policemen during a demonstration outside the Walloon Region parliament in Namur on Jan. 29.

Geert Vanden Wijngaert / AP

A steel worker from ArcelorMittal in Liege, Belgium, comforts a colleague during a protest near the Walloon Minister President's office in Namur, Belgium, on Jan. 29. The world's leading steel and mining company ArcelorMittal announced Thursday it will close a coke plant and six production lines in Belgium, in a move that threatens 1,300 jobs.

Laurent Dubrule / Reuters

Arcelor Mittal workers from several Liege steel plants clash with riot policemen during a demonstration outside the Walloon Region parliament in Namur on Jan. 29.

Laurent Dubrule / Reuters

Arcelor Mittal workers from several Liege argue with riot policemen during a demonstration outside the Walloon Region parliament in Namur on Jan. 29.

Related: Belgian steel workers clash with police over job losses

Geert Vanden Wijngaert / AP

Police officers are sprayed with milk by European milk farmers during a demonstration outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Nov. 26.

John Thys / AFP - Getty Images

A dairy farmers holds a hose spraying milk at a protest against EU agricultural policies at the Place du Luxembourg, near the European Parliament, in Brussels, on Nov. 26.

Yves Herman / Reuters

A riot police is seen covered in milk as farmers dump milk on the European Parliament during a demonstration in Brussels on Nov. 26.

Reuters -- Dairy farmers sprayed thousands of gallons of fresh milk at the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday in protest at what they say are excessive milk quotas and prices below the cost of production.

Hundreds of farmers and tractors from across Europe took up position in a park near the European Commission and a square in front of the parliament in the early afternoon, after blocking traffic along several of Brussels' busiest streets.

They then turned their hoses on parliament, a collection of vast marble, glass and steel buildings on a Brussels square, and unleashed torrents of milk, some of it raining down on police and passers-by.

Afterwards they set alight barrels of hay and a pile of tires, sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky. They plan to stay put outside parliament until Tuesday afternoon.

The European Milk Board, which coordinated the two-day protest, said prices with current quotas were putting small farmers out of business. In Belgium, for example, the board said the wholesale price for a quarter gallon of milk was around 34 cents, but the cost of producing it is more than 50 cents. Continue reading.

Julien Warnand / EPA

Farmers spray milk at riot police during a demonstration on the 'Place du Luxembourg' near the European parliament building in Brussels, Belgium, on Nov. 26.

Yves Herman / Reuters

European milk producers demonstrate outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Nov. 26.

Yves Herman / Reuters

Farmers stand among hundreds of tractors during a demonstration in central Brussels on Nov. 26.

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Yves Herman / Reuters

A woman parks her bicycle outside a railway station in Ghent, Belgium on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012. Thousands of people ride bicycles in the city when traveling short distances.

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Julien Warnand / EPA

A volunteer walks by the Begonias to make the giant flower carpet, at the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium, on Aug. 14. The biennial flower carpet is made with Begonias and takes place during 4 days.

Julien Warnand / EPA

Volunteers lay down Begonias to make the giant flower carpet, at the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium, on Aug. 14. The biennial flower carpet is made of thousands of Begonias and takes place during 4 days.

Julien Warnand / EPA

Volunteers lay down Begonias to make the giant flower carpet, at the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium, on Aug. 14.

Julien Warnand / EPA

A general view of the giant flower carpet, at the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium, on Aug. 14. The biennial flower carpet is made of thousands of Begonias and takes place during 4 days.

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Laurent Dubrule / Reuters

A man protests against the release of Michelle Martin, the ex-wife and accomplice of convicted child murderer Marc Dutroux, in Malonne, a village southeast of Brussels, Belgium, on August 3, 2012.

Reuters reports — Belgian prosecutors have launched an appeal to block the release from prison of Michelle Martin, the former wife and accomplice of convicted pedophile killer Marc Dutroux.

Martin, who has been behind bars since 1996, has been cleared for conditional release and on Tuesday a court in the southern city of Mons accepted a plan to house her in a convent in the village of Malonne. The decision angered the families of victims.

"We pollute Malonne, we stain the memory of these little girls and these other people who died for nothing," said resident Michel Dethier. "This is monstrous."

Julien Warnand / EPA

A protester embraces her daughter during a demonstration aimed at preventing Michelle Martin moving into the Poor Clare Sisters convent in Malonne, Belgium, on August 3, 2012.

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

•Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Francois Lenoir / Reuters

Francois Lenoir / Reuters

Guests enjoy a "Dinner in the Sky" on a platform hanging in front of the Cinquantenaire park in Brussels on June 20.

Guests enjoy a "Dinner in the Sky" on a platform hanging in front of the Cinquantenaire park in Brussels on Wednesday.

Dinner in the Sky accommodates 22 guests, seated at a table suspended from a crane at a height of 40 meters.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

•Sign up for the msnbc.com Photos Newsletter