Vibrant Gujarat to focus on trade apart from investments:

The Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2019 which will be held between January 18-20 next year will focus on trading, a senior state official said Thursday.

Gujarat has a large trading community.

Ashwani Kumar, secretary to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, said Thursday that he would lead a delegation of business leaders from leading companies to Sweden, Denmark and Finland and hold roadshows there.

"The difference between earlier Vibrant Gujarat summits and this one is focus. Earlier, we used to focus just on bringing investments. Then, last year the SME sector was given importance. This time we are also going to focus on the trade aspect," Kumar said.

"The objective of the delegation is primarily to interact with companies that have expressed interest in investing in Gujarat or India in general, and provide information on opportunities in Gujarat," he said.

The delegation will hold roadshows in Helsinki, Copenhagen and Stockholm to showcase Gujarat as a solid investment destination with opportunities in sectors such as infrastructure development, urban planning, logistics and financial services, Kumar said.

Over 300 companies from Sweden, Denmark and Finland have business operations in India. These include Volvo, Maersk, Ericsson, ABB, Nokia and Nova Nordsik among others.

Now, other companies such as IKEA, H&M, Vestas and SAAB are keen to increase their presence in India and the delegation will target them for investment in the state.

The 9th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat summit will be held over three days in January next year and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present at the event.