United States to pitch in as partner country in Vibrant Gujarat summit

In a new bonhomie after the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the US on Friday expressed its desire to join the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Summit-2015 as a partner country.

Interacting with mediapersons in Gandhinagar, Consul General in American Consulate in Mumbai, Tom Vajda said that US has already sent a formal proposal to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Patel in this regard.

The proposal comes for the 7th edition of the Summit, after the US had cut down all its diplomatic contact with the Gujarat government under Modi as the CM, and had not shown any official interest in the first six episodes. However, Modi's maiden US visit as PM seems have changed a lot of things between Gujarat and America.

According to Vajda, who was here to attend a seminar on 'Urban Design and Planning', Gujarat has emerged as a preferred destination among US companies for investment.

"We recognised the importance of Vibrant Gujarat as a platform to support the India-US economic engagement. There is increasing interest in US about economic opportunities in India. Within India, Gujarat has a reputation of a very hospitable destination to attract investment," said Vajda.

This edition of Vibrant Summit will be held between 11th and 13th January at Mahatma Mandir here. Recently, Gujarat government has declared that seven nations are participating as 'Partner Countries' for his edition. They are Japan, Australia, Singapore, UK, Netherlands, Canada and South Africa.

"Through Vibrant Gujarat, we intend to bring our companies here and also want to showcase US as a destination for education, business and tourism. We have offered our interest to serve as partner country through a letter sent to the CM. We hope that it will be accepted," said Vajda.