The consul general of the US Paul Folmsbee said on the opening day of the Vibrant Gujarat 2011 Summit that there are no plans to call Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to the country.
Folmsbee?s remarks have once again made it clear that Modi?s US Visa dream would remain unfulfilled even the coming days, though the US Embassy for the first time formally participated in the Gujarat government?s summit, Folmsbee categorically denied any plans to invite Modi to the US for any purpose.
When asked whether the team from US Consulate would be meeting the Gujarat CM Narendra Modi and whether there are any plans to allow Modi a US Visa, which has been denied to him considering the 2002 post-Godhra carnage and its implications, he said, ?Well, we have been organising such events in USA, we don?t intend to call the Gujarat CM to the US and we have not thought about it either,? Folmsbee said. The US Commercial Service is the trade promotion arm of the US department of commerce?s international trade administration. Folmsbee during his speech also said the one thing which emerged common between the 9/11 and 26/11 attacks is that they have a common enemy.
Another senior official who was present during the interactive session with the industry people said requesting anonymity, ?There are no concrete plans to organise a similar event in US but may be when we organise one, we would probably call a group of CMs from the states which have developed rapidly and one of them could be Gujarat CM. But calling up Gujarat CM alone is not on agenda.?