Vibrant Gujarat Summit to focus on bilateral trade, exports

Boosting bilateral trade and increasing exports from Gujarat instead of just attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) will be the focus of the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit-2019, an official said Thursday.

In the run up to the summit to be held between January 18 and 20, various delegations comprising bureaucrats, industrialists, experts and ministers in Gujarat government, are visiting different countries to explore opportunities and to invite them for the mega biennial event.

Additional Chief Secretary of Agriculture and Co-operation Department, Sanjay Prasad, is heading to Russia and France next week with his delegation.

He said the focus this time will be on bilateral trade and technical collaborations to help Gujarat-based firms increase exports after doing value addition to raw material imported from different countries.

"Attracting FDI in Gujarat has been the main focus of the earlier summits. But this time, we are focusing not only on FDI, but also on ensuring a quantum increase in all kinds of economic activities here," Prasad told PTI.

The official will visit Russia and France between September 17 and 25 with a delegation to explore trade and investment opportunities with these countries as well as to invite delegates of these countries to participate in the upcoming Vibrant Summit.

During the visit, the delegation would also enter into technological collaborations with various entities, including research institutes and universities.

Prasad's delegation is one of the 24 such delegations from Gujarat, which had either already visited some countries or embark on the tour in the coming weeks to seek partnerships from foreign nations as part of the Vibrant Summit.

He said since Gujarat handles almost 50 per cent of India's overseas sea trade through its ports, the focus of the upcoming event will be to increase the exports as well.

According to Prasad, many firms in Gujarat are engaged in importing raw materials, such as rough diamonds, specialty textiles and crude oil, from countries like Russia, process them here and export them back after adding value to it.

"This time, we are focusing on bilateral trade, especially exports between Gujarat and other countries. Our focus this time is to augment this economic activity wherein we import raw material, process it here and export it back. In a way, this Summit is more comprehensive," he said.

During his visit to Russia and France, Prasad and his delegation would engage in deliberations with the industry leaders of chemicals and petrochemicals, aerospace and defence, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, education and automobile sector.

He added that during his visit, efforts will be made to woo Russian and French companies to set up their operations at Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) near Ahmedabad.

The Vibrant Gujarat Summit was conceptualised in 2003 by Narendra Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. The last Vibrant Summit held in 2017 had witnessed participation of over 100 countries.