Invitations for investors summit soon: Gujarat

GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat government will soon send senior officials to various countries to meet prominent industrialists and diplomats and invite them for the Global Investors Summit 2011, slated to be held here Jan 11-12, an official said Friday.

According to the official spokesperson here, as part of this exercise, the state government Thursday evening organised an interactive meet with the ambassadors and diplomats of various countries in New Delhi.

A high-level delegation led by Industries Minister Saurabh Patel and comprising Chief Secretary A.K. Joti, Principal Secretary (Industries) Maheswar Sahu and other senior officers made a presentation before a large gathering of diplomats as to why Gujarat is considered to be the most favourable destination for investment in this part of the world.

Ambassadors, diplomats and representatives from Japan, Turkey, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Nepal, Canada, Russia, Vietnam, Italy, the Philippines, Columbia, Cuba and Uganda were among those who attended.

Addressing the gathering, Patel said that the state government has laid special emphasis on developing world class infrastructure to support its growing industrial base.

“Today, it is one of the few regions which have taken initiative and developed infrastructure not only in the conventional areas but as per the requirements of the 21st century such as gas grid, optical fibre network, water supply network, irrigation systems, communication and information infrastructure,” he said.

Patel said that the state has drawn up an ambitious decade-long plan for infrastructure development and the document - BIG-2020 - encapsulating it was released by the Chief Minister Narendra Modi recently. “The plan envisages an investment of Rs.11,80,912 crore across 19 infrastructure sectors,” he said.