PM Modi to inaugurate Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2022 on Jan 10

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2022 in Gandhinagar on January 10, a senior official said on Monday.

The three-day event will be organised on the theme of "From Aatmanirbhar Gujarat to Aatmanirbhar Bharat", he said.

Additional Chief Secretary, Industry and Mines, Rajiv Gupta, told reporters here that the Global Trade Show, a round table on the international financial institutions, will also be organised, and a meeting of around 15 Russian governors will be held under the chairmanship of PM Modi on the inaugural day of the event.

"Tenth Vibrant Gujarat will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 10, 2022...Chief Minister (Bhupendra Patel) has decided to organise this Vibrant event under the leadership of the Prime Minister. The theme of the 10th VGGS is, 'From Aatmanirbhar Gujarat to Aatmanirbhar Bharat,'" Gupta told reporters.

He said events during the upcoming VGGS will be organised around Central schemes like the 'Gati Shakti' Plan, 'Aatmanirbhar (self-reliant) Bharat', and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, etc.

He said despite less time for the preparations, the upcoming summit will be as big, or rather bigger, than the vibrant summits held in the past.

On January 11, events will be organised on the Centre's "Gati Shakti Plan' on how this scheme will benefit Gujarat in the areas of infrastructure and investment, Gupta said, adding that Central departments will participate in this event.

On January 12, events on the topic of 'Make In India', with a focus on Production Linked Investment (PLI) schemes, will be held to discuss at least 13 schemes in different sectors which were announced by the Central government, Gupta added.

Discussions will be held on how these schemes will help to strengthen the industrial development in Gujarat in the areas of electric vehicles, battery, hydrogen, battery storage, as well as pharmaceuticals, textiles, etc., he said.

Technology will be the focus of the events on the third and concluding day of the VGGS, Gupta said.

He said the topics on the maximum usage of technology such as blockchain and artificial intelligence; how they will help in employment generation and value addition will be discussed on the third day, before the concluding ceremony.

A conference and roadshow focusing on the MSMEs will be organised during the trade fair on January 11 in which thousands of MSMEs are expected to participate, the ACS said.

He said at least ten pre-Vibrant events, including a trade fair and international-level seminars and workshops on subjects such as textile, health, education, and export, will be held to discuss how Gujarat and the country will benefit from the Centre's policies towards a balanced industrial development.

"These events will be organised from December 1 till January 9. Among the pre-Vibrant events, a few like those on start-ups and unicorn of Gujarat government's i-Create will be a one-of-its-kind event that was never held anywhere else in India," he said.

National and international roadshows will also be organised in the run-up to the VGGS, Gupta said.

"We will hold six roadshows across the country. The first roadshow will be held on November 25 in Delhi under the leadership of chief minister Patel. The second roadshow will be held in Mumbai on December 2. Other roadshows will be held in major cities such as Lucknow, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, to be attended by different ministers and secretaries," Gupta added.

He said 4-5 roadshows will also be organised abroad, in countries like the US, Germany, Netherlands, UK, France, Japan, and Middle East countries.

The Gujarat chief minister is tentatively scheduled to visit Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other Middle East countries on December 8-9. The state chief secretary will visit the US for a roadshow, he said.

"The MoU signing events will be held every Monday starting today, when MoUs attracting proposed investment of Rs 24,185 crore were signed," Gupta said.

"There is a tradition of signing MoUs in every Vibrant Gujarat, and we have a strike rate of over 70 per cent. We have kept MoU in such a way that on the first day, around Rs 25,000-crore MoUs were signed in different sectors--chemical, fertilisers, pharma, manufacturing, life sciences etc.

"The MoUs will be signed every Monday till the launch of the summit. All important and big MoUs, and the MoUs with the possibility of converting into a real project. We have informed 15-20 countries to partner through diplomatic channels, and many have been received and others are awaited," he said.

The biennial summit was supposed to be held in January this year but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.