Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 10th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit at Gandhinagar on Wednesday. Al Nahyan is the chief guest at the event to be held at Mahatma Mandir Convention Centre in Gandhinagar on Wednesday.
The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, started in 2003 when Modi was state CM, is a global forum for business collaboration, knowledge sharing and strategic partnerships for inclusive growth and sustainable development.
Besides Al Nahyan, this edition will also witness the participation of President of Timor-Leste Jose Ramos-Horta and Mozambique President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi. Business leaders, chief executives and diplomats from 133 countries will also participate in the event.
"As against the 60,000-odd delegates who had registered themselves for the previous summit, over 1.07 lakh people have already registered themselves and the figure may increase as the registration process is still on. So far, 32 nations have agreed to be partner countries of the Vibrant Summit," Additional Chief Secretary of Industries and Mines Department, S J Haider, said in a press conference said.
The three-day summit is also likely to see Dutch and Singapore firms committing $7.19 billion in investments in India. The event, expected to bring in around 100,000 visitors, will also have representatives of foreign companies taking part include Microsoft, Nasdaq, Alphabet's Google, Suzuki and Toyota. Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, Asia's two richest people, and the chairman of salt-to-aviation conglomerate Tata Group, will be among the scores of top Indian executives in attendance.
"U.S. companies are factoring in that the current government will come back in power," Mukesh Aghi, President of trade group U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, which is leading its biggest ever delegation of 50-plus U.S. firms to the Gujarat summit, told Reuters. "They are quietly de-risking from China, and so India, with its fast growing economy, becomes important," added Aghi.
Gujarat has attracted roughly $34 billion in foreign investments between 2019 and 2023, the third highest among states after Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Seminars and expos
On the sidelines of the summit, nearly 125 events, such as seminars and exhibitions, will be held. Haider added that efforts will be made to make it a 'carbon neutral' event by minimising the carbon emission and neutralising the already emitted carbon by planting trees and using renewable energy. "The delegates will also deliberate on various global issues during the summit. Countries like Germany, Saudi Arabia, UK, South Korea and Oman will organise their 'Country Seminars' at the event. Nearly 50 to 75 CEOs of top global firms will be attending the Summit as they have already given their confirmation," Haider said.