Vibrant Gujarat meet to focus on SEZs: Modi

Ahmedabad, Jan 5: With an aim to attract investments, the Gujarat Government is organising the third Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit on January 12 and 13, with a focus on Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

Giving details about the mega event, Chief Minister Narendra Modi said scores of industrialists and top names in business from across the country and abroad will be participating.

He said while other states are still debating about the viability of SEZs, Gujarat is ahead with approvals for 33 SEZs in its kitty.

He hoped the state will be able to capitalise on the ''first player advantage'' it has got.

''As most of the SEZs are close to the coastline and are on barren land, we will not be facing the problems that others states have,'' he told a press conference here.

When asked about the fishermen's protest against the SEZs, he said the Government will not take any measure that will harm a community.

Enumerating several advantages Gujarat has like longest coastline in the country, highest number of airports (11), excellent road network, the Chief Minister said it is also the only state where 0.5 per cent mandays are lost, against 13 percent in some states. These apart, not many states could match the entrepreneurial temperament or the manufacturing skills of the Gujaratis, he added.

In the run-up to the Summit, he said the Government had asked the state's top entreprenuers and business heads to span out across the globe and to meet their counterparts and encourage them to invest in Gujarat. ''This move proved successful as a businessman can understand another businessman's problems and provide solutions too,'' he added.

He said at the Summit, the focus sectors will be agro and food processing, textiles and apparels, chemicals, petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, engineering, auto and ceramics, SEZ and port led development, power, oil and gas, gems and jewellery, medical tourism, biotechnology, information technology, urban development and tourism.

Alongside the Investors' Summit, the state will also be organising the International Kite Festival on January 14, in which several international visitors will be taking part. There will also be a multimedia presentation on ''Eternal Gandhi'' in which, through technology, modern art and design, story of the Mahatma's life and experiences will be retold.

Cultural programmes will be held in the evenings of the Summit days. One of the programmes will depict Gujarat's role during the 1857 Uprising. ''We wanted to observe the completion of 150 years of the Uprising. This programme will show Gujarat's role in it,'' Mr Modi said.

UNI