On the eve of the tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi actively wooed the heads of state and corporate head honchos to invest in India across sectors from semiconductors to automobiles and from infrastructure to green energy here today.
On a three day tour of Gujarat to participate in the VGGS, which commemorates 20 years this year, the PM spent the morning interacting with some of the top global CEOs including executives of Suzuki Motor Corp, Micron Technology and AP Moller and discussed industry issues and investment opportunities.
Modi and Toshihiro Suzuki, Representative Director & President, Suzuki Motor Corp, “discussed Maruti Suzuki’s plans to make India a strong player in the global automotive market by exporting Made in India vehicles, along with deploying global best practices related to vehicle scrapping and vehicle recycling into India,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a post on X. Maruti Suzuki is looking to set up a second car manufacturing plant in Gujarat. This will be the firm’s fifth plant in the country.
In addition, Sanjay Mehrotra, the President and CEO of Micron Technology, too held a meeting with the PM in which they “discussed Micron’s efforts to enhance the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in India,” the PMO said in a separate post on X. US chip making giant Micron has started construction of a USD 2.75 billion semiconductor factory in Sanand, about 40-km from Ahmedabad. The plant, which will focus on transforming wafters into ball-grid arrays (BGA) integrated circuit packages, memory modules and solid-state drives, is expected to be ready by December this year.
Modi also met Ahmed bin Sulayem, the Group Chairman & CEO of infrastructure and ports giant DP World. “They discussed DP World’s plans to further bolster investment in India, especially pertaining to creating sustainable, green, and energy-efficient ports, and world class sustainable logistic infrastructure,” the PMO said in another post. It may be recalled that DP World had last year signed a concession agreement with the Deendayal Port Authority to develop, operate and maintain a new 2.19 million TEU per annum mega-container terminal at Kandla in Gujarat. The Dubai-based logistics company currently operates five container terminals in India — two in Mumbai, one each in Mundra, Cochin and Chennai — with a combined capacity of approximately 6 million TEUs.The PM also had an interaction with Keith Svendsen, CEO of A.P. Moller.
The PM also took time out of his hectic schedule to meet Professor Iain Martin, Vice Chancellor of Deakin University which is unveiling India’s first international campus at GIFT City on Wednesday. “They had a productive discussion on enhancing collaboration between government and academic institutions pertaining to cybersecurity. The PM also welcomed Deakin University to collaborate with Indian universities for promoting research and innovation,” the PMO said in a post on X. “The PM welcomed their expansion plans in the GIFT City. Their discussions encompassed the crucial topics of green hydrogen and the development of logistics infrastructure,” the PMO said.
In the afternoon, PM Modi inaugurated the Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show 2024 in Gandhinagar amidst much fanfare. Spread across 2 lakh square metres in multiple halls, the exhibition witnessed the participation of 20 countries.
The PM undertook a tour of stalls at the sprawling exhibition venue with Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and other dignitaries. He also met heads of states and senior officials from several participant countries. In addition, the PM spent the morning interacting with global CEOs, including Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron, DP World’s chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Toshihiro Suzuki, Vincent Clerc of AP Moller Maersk. and senior officials from Australia’s Deakin University, which is inaugurating its first offshore campus at GIFT City.
Australia, Tanzania, Morocco, Mozambique, South Korea, Thailand, Estonia, Bangladesh, Singapore, UAE (United Arab Emirates), UK, Germany, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, Russia, Rwanda, Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam will present information about their industries at the exhibition which will open for business for the next two days and subsequently be opened for the general public.
It has 1,000 exhibitors specifically from the research sector. The show also consists of 13 halls dedicated to an equal number of themes such as 13 different themes, including ‘Make in Gujarat’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, women empowerment, MSME development, new technology, green and smart infrastructure, sustainable energy are the special focus areas for the show. The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, hailed as the biggest ever gathering, will be held during January 10-12 and is expected to bring in around 100,000 visitors, including chief executives, business leaders, ministers and diplomats from 133 countries.
Billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, Tata group chairman, executives of Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, and Toyota are expected to attend the event that is looking to attract investments in sectors ranging from chipmaking to green energy and electric vehicles manufacturing.