Sichuan province of China may partner the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in 2013, according to one of the delegates who accompanied chief minister Narendra Modi on the official China visit.
"The biggest gain of CM's China visit was that we could showcase the manufacturing prowess of Gujarat. China is the world's manufacturing hub, while Gujarat is the leader in manufacturing in India," said a member of the delegation, requesting anonymity.
Modi and the delegation spent two days in Sichuan province. The Chinese officials, whom Modi met during his five-day visit to China, agreed to the proposal and a formal announcement was likely in the coming months. Modi also invited Chinese business community and public enterprises to participate in the summit. It may be worth recalling that Japan and Canada were the partner countries for Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011.
An official said that Chinese companies were keen to have trade links with Gujarat and to invest in various sectors, especially through joint ventures. While TBEA Transformers has already announced plans to invest Rs2,500 crore, Huawei Technologies was considering a telecom R & D centre in the state.
"Other Chinese companies are also eyeing investments in Gujarat, so as to be able to tap the Indian market better," said a delegate.
Maheshwar Sahu, principal secretary, industries department, had said on Sunday that Gujarat would attract $10 billion worth of Chinese investment over the next five years.
The CM, according to a delegate, was highly impressed by the infrastructure at Yangshan deep water port.
"He was simply amazed by the scale of the port project, and by the speed of execution of various projects in China. He asked officials and industry representatives to adopt a similar approach in planning and execution of projects," said a delegate.
Modi was also highly impressed by the development in and around Shanghai and asked officials to model development of Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) on Shanghai.
