“In Prayag, on the banks of the Ganga, one Kumbh Mela is being organised and here near the banks of Sabarmati a ‘Kumbh Mela of development’ has taken place,” said Gujarat chief minister (CM) Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar on January 8. He was speaking at the inauguration of Gujarat Global Trade Show, a part of the 6th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Summit (VGS).
Among those present at the ceremony were Parimal Nathwani from Reliance Industries, Rajiv Modi from Cadila Pharma, Sudhir Mehta from Torrent group and Gautam Adani from Adani group.
“This platform offers a unique opportunity to corporate houses, institutions and industrial giants not only to showcase their innovations, products and services to a large gathering on Indian and global summit delegates but also allows to have meaningful B2B interactions resulting in serious business and trade opportunities,” the chief minister added.
Recalling the times when trade fairs were restricted to Delhi, Modi pointed to the gradual shift to the states. “The initiatives of Gujarat are not restricted to our state only. Many states are doing similar things to attract investment. Our efforts have become a trendsetter in this regard,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, chairperson and managing director of India Trade Promotion Organisation, Rita Menon, congratulated the Gujarat government for the show and expressed confidence that the event will grow from strength to strength.
The six-day trade show, spread over one lakh square metres, has participation of more than 1,000 companies from 16 countries. With 13 domes, 14 exclusive pavilions and more than 25,000 products on display, the show was expected to attract more than 1.5 million visitors.
PDPU to host int'l meet
Beginning today, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University Gandhinagar will host a two-day international conference titled ‘International Conference for Academic Institutions - 2013’ (ICAI - 2013).
ICAI has been organised in the run-up to Vibrant Gujarat-2013 to foster collaborations and create conducive ecosystem to build world-class institutions in Gujarat. The conference will be an integrated platform where academic experts and representatives of Indian and international universities will congregate to discuss, debate, learn and arrive at relevant solutions to support its aim of providing world-class education facilities to students.
ICAI-2013 will focus on three major issues – internationalisation of education, promotion of research & development through innovation, and skill development.
About 260 institutions are participating in the conference. Of these, 145 will be international, 52 national (from 14 states) while 63 are state-based institutes.
