Gujarat: The eighth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit drew to a close at the sprawling Mahatma Mandir Complex in Gandhinagar on Thursday evening. Having established itself as the biggest congregation of corporate leaders, policy makers and analysts in the country, this edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit witnessed 25,578 MoUs that were signed between companies or with the government.
The state government, though did not divulge the value of the intended investment. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said: “Value can change with time and thus figures cannot be made public.”
Interestingly, the government had announced the value of investment promised at the conclusion of all previous seven summits.
The inaugural session, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, was attended by India’s top corporate leadership and leaders of world’s top multinational companies. Among the top world corporate leaders who attended the summit included David Farr of Emerson Electric, Toshiro Suzuki of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Peter Huntsman of Huntsman Corporation and John Chambers of the CISCo group among others. Vibrant Gujarat summit is a brainchild of PM Modi and it began in 2003 when he was Gujarat CM.
Both Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and state Chief Secretary J N Singh emphasised that investments were not the only focus of the summit. “Investments will happen, but we want the Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be a platform that facilitates exchange and of ideas and innovation not only from across India but from across the world. The Nobel Laureate Series introduced this time is an example of this,” CM Rupani said.
The partner countries at Vibrant Gujarat 2017 included Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Sweden, UAE, UK and the USA.
The list of partnering organisations for the event at Gandhinagar included some of the world’s top associations like The British Council, US India Business Council, UK India Business Council, Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and the Australia India Business Council among others.
Critics have, and will continue to question the actual implementation of MoUs that have been signed in successive Vibrant Gujarat summits.