Vibrant Gujarat is all set for the eighth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit, scheduled to commence on January 10. With a notable in its reach and span, the four day business meet this year is being touted as the biggest-ever summit with the stage set for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pitch India as an investment hot spot from the platform of the biennial event.
Flagged by Modi in 2003, when he was Chief Minister, the Summit this year will also host Nobel Laureates along with several heads of states for the first time. Modi himself will hold dialogue with the heads of 35 different international and 23 Indian companies at the global CEO roundtable on 'Transforming India' at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar on the inaugural day. PK Taneja, additional chief secretary (industries and mines), said, "The roundtable aims to dig and brainstorm industry's expectations to make India an ideal investment destination." Among those who have already forwarded their participation confirmation in a special meeting with the PM are, John Chambers, chairperson of global technology giant Cisco, Bertrand-Marc Allen, president of Boeing International, and Jean-Bernard Levy, CEO of French electricity giant EDF.
Also, Presidents of Kenya and Rwanda, prime ministers of Portugal and Serbia, and deputy prime ministers of Russia and Poland will be among the dignitaries present at the inaugural ceremony. The event will also see participation of delegations from the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Sweden, and France, among others.
Vibrant goes digital
As many as 20 heads of states and ministers from different governments across the world will attend the summit. In a first, this year's Vibrant Summit will bear a Digital India imprint with the participants wearing a 'Quick Response Code Identity Card' to enter the venue. Registrations made on the event website requires one to upload photographs for the ID card, which have been issued to avoid long queues.
Rajkumar Beniwal, managing director, iNEXTb, said, "Compared to last year, the participants have increased by 15 to 20 per cent." All visitors will be provided with the QR code ID card that will store information about the individual. Code scanners will be installed at various locations across Mahatma Mandir and other venues.
Itinerary
The four-day Summit will feature 24 seminars, out of which, three will be action seminars. They will held on the lines of the World Economic Forum held at Davos. Action seminars won't feature one specific speaker, instead all stakeholders will discuss and draw a consensus. The Industrial Extension Bureau has planned three action seminars on Innovation, Start-Ups and Entrepreneurship, Smart and Liveable cities: Opportunities and Challenges, and Inclusive growth. Each session will feature approximately 100 participants.
Vice-Chairman and MD, GIDC, D Thara, who will be co-ordinating the action seminar on Innovation, Startups and Entrepreneurship, said, "It will be a three hour long rigorous discussion on entrepreneurship and start ups. The outcome of seminar will help us formulate a start-up policy."
Also to be held, is a Nobel Series Exhibition, where Nobel-winning scientists will interact with students, scientists, industry leaders, and policy makers. Seen as one of the high points of the summit which has until now, been seen as a platform for making business. The five-week exhibition will be opened by the PM on January 10, at Science City in Ahmedabad. "This will be the first time that Nobel Prize winners in such a big number from across the world will hold a session in the country," said Chief Secretary JN Singh. The dignitaries will also participate in the 'Nobel Laureate Dialogue' at Mahatma Mandir on the 10th, as informed by Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology Dhananjay Dwivedi.
He added, "On January 11, these Nobel laureates will interact with students at various educational institutes such as IIT Gandhinagar, Gujarat University, and MS University in Vadodara."
List of Participants
Gandhinagar will witness tight security all througout the summit as the attendees include the crème de la crème of the business and international communities. The conference to be chaired by Modi will host 35 foreign business leaders and 23 Indian industrialists.
Top Indian industry leaders to attend the high-profile event are Mukesh Ambani, CMD, Reliance Industries Limited, Anil Ambani, Chairman, Reliance ADA Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group, Vishal Sikka, CEO, Infosys, and Pankaj Patel, CMD, Zydus Group. Taneja said, "We are privileged to host these leaders from around the world. Their presence will make Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017 one of the grandest events the country has seen."
Opposition shut down over MoUs materialising
Gujarat Inc. dispelled all notion that memorandums of understanding signed at Vibrant Gujarat Global Summits are not materialising; clarifying that the MoUs are not mere promises and investment commitments made by different industrial houses have been fulfiled.
Corporate groups such as Reliance Industries Ltd, Adani Group, Essar Group, Zydus Group, Welspun Group, and Torrent Group, gave an account of the progress made in accord with the investment intentions inked by them in the previous two editions of the Vibrant Gujarat summits. "Around 72 per cent of the total 21,304 MoUs signed at the 2015 Vibrant Summit have either been commissioned or are under implementation," said Pankaj Patel, CMD, Zydus. Also the president of industrial body FICCI, Patel said of 41,023 MoUs-projects announced during the previous two summits, 27,551, or 67.15 per cent have either been commissioned or are at advanced state of implementation.
