Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Gujarat Government delegation makes a strong headway in Europe

Gujarat’s Opportunities of investment and policy framework well appreciated by leadership and industry in France, Germany and Switzerland. Twelve  member delegation comprising of Government Officials & Industry representatives completes the visit of Germany, France & Switzerland Investment opportunities in Gujarat, Promotes Vibrant Gujarat Summit-2013 and incubates tie up with industry and commerce
·        Meets political leadership including Ministers, City administrators to cement the developing relationships
·        Builds long term understanding and relationship with the Industry organizations including several Chambers of Commerce & Industry
1. Impressive Investment Promotion Road shows on Vibrant Gujarat organized at:
  • Hamburg and Frankfurt in Germany
  • Geneva, Basel and Zurich in Switzerland
  • Paris and Lille in France
2. Gujarat Delegation meets Mr. Frank Horch–Minister–Economy, Transport & Innovation of Hamburg, Mrs. Eveline Lemke-Minister Economic affairs-Rheinland, and Mr. Volker Hoff, Deputy Mayor, Frankfurt.
3. Gujarat Government signs an Intent of Cooperation with Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce; reinforces the same with France-India Chamber of Commerce
4. European companies keen to invest in Gujarat particularly in infrastructure projects, engineering, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles, agro & food processing, auto sectors
5. Companies keen to partner with Gujarat-based companies
03 July 2012 – India’s large market size and vast pool of young and talented manpower coupled with Gujarat’s proactive governance, robust infrastructure, friendly business environment drew the top leadership and industry representatives of the three countries towards a keen and focused dialogue with the Gujarat delegation. Several companies showed interest to make Gujarat as their next big investment destination and manufacturing base.
A high-level 12 member delegation of business leaders and government officials from the State of Gujarat, visited Europe between 18th & 28th of June, 2012. The delegation arrived in Hamburg on 18th  June for a day’s visit to meet with corporations, institutions and organizations. The delegation met Mr Frank Horch, Minister for Economy, Transport and Innovation of Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg to discuss cross border partnerships, investment opportunities and bilateral trade between the two regions. On behalf of Gujarat’s Hon’ble Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, Mr. A. K. Sharma extended an invitation letter to the Minister and German business leaders, investors, corporations, academic leaders and policymakers to the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Summit, January 11-13, 2013. The delegation also made presentation at a conference jointly hosted by Europe India Chamber of Commerce, Hanseatic India Forum and Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, in which more than 40 companies participated. The conference also included B2B interactions with companies who had interest in investing in the State of Gujarat.
The delegation then moved on to Geneva, where it attended a lunch on meeting hosted by the Hinduja Group (Europe). A large number of Global players including representative of the World Economic Forum, India’s Ambassador in the UNO participated in the event. The discussion was focused on various investment opportunities, particularly in the area of renewable energy, financial services, education, R&D and medical tourism. Later on the same day, the delegation also attended and made presentation at a conference organized by Swiss India Business Forum and the Geneva Chamber of Commerce & Industry, in which more than 25 companies participated.
From Geneva, the delegation moved on to Zurich, to attend and make presentation at a conference organized by Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce (SICC). Mr. A.K. Sharma, IAS – Secretary to the Chief Minister of Gujarat signed a formal Intent of Cooperation with SICC, to promote information, bilateral investment, training and expert exchanges among businesses and agencies for economic activities, skill development and investment promotion as well as business associations, and to use the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit 2013 and later Summits and similar occasions as platforms for the above purpose. The event was well received by participants representing more than 35 companies. The delegation had similar presentation and meetings at Basel city of Switzerland.
Thereafter, the delegation proceeded to France. An impressive gathering of industrialists and CEOs was presented with the opportunities in Gujarat at Lille city of France. Thereafter, the delegation had a similar conference at Paris organized by the Indian Embassy, and France-India Chamber of Commerce & Industries. His Excellency Mr. Rakesh Sood, Ambassador of India to France was the chief guest for the event at Paris. Around 80 French companies and a number of NRGs participated in the conference. Since 2010, the France-India Chamber of Commerce & Industries has become an active partner of the Gujarat Government in promoting the investment opportunities and the Vibrant Gujarat event. They not only further renewed their commitment in this direction but have also started the activities towards promoting the Vibrant Gujarat event of 2013.
From Paris, the delegation moved to Frankfurt where a conference was organized by the Indian Consul General in cooperation with the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce. The event was focused on augmenting mutual collaboration between German and Gujarat companies, where more than 75 companies participated. A meeting took place between Mr. Volker Hoff, Deputy Mayor, Frankfurt and the visiting Gujarat delegation.  Both the sides exchanged views on the possible avenues of collaboration between Frankfurt and Gujarat. The delegation was particularly appreciative of the great strides made by Frankfurt city in terms of infrastructure and facilitating the development of financial services.  During the meeting, Mr. Volker agreed that to encourage city to city level collaboration, Frankfurt city may enter into sister city agreement with Gujarat’s city(s) of similar size and nature. This will help the exchange of best practices and further the cooperation and collaboration. Mr. Sharma thanked Mr. Volker for the understanding and promised him that this could be formalized soon.
Later that day, the delegation also met Mrs. Eveline Lemke–Minister of Economic Affairs, Climate Protection, Energy and Regional Planning of the Rheinland-Psalz State in Germany. Both sides discussed avenues of mutual collaboration. An invitation from the Hon. Chief Minister was extended to the Minister for the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat 2013 summit. The minister gracefully accepted the invitation for VG 2013 and conveyed her keenness to come to Gujarat and have a discussion with top officials and the Honourable Chief minister on opportunities of strengthening mutual cooperation on various aspects, including climate protection and energy. The delegation had detailed discussed on the current economic scenario in Europe and India and noted the learning for each other. The minister took keen interest in various potential sectors where both German and Gujarat based companies could forge partnerships.
At all the conferences a detailed and insightful presentation was made by Mr. A. K. Sharma which was appreciated a lot by the participants. The delegates also gave the industry and business perspective in Gujarat. This evoked keen interest in the   opportunities of investment, scope of partnerships, policy framework and recent initiatives of the Government of Gujarat led by Hon. Chief Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi. The importance of the State of Gujarat as an economic region and the strength of its companies can be seen from the fact that a large number of companies showed keenness for investing in Gujarat. In addition, much Government owned investment promotion agencies including at Hamburg, Basel and Frankfurt made presentation to the delegation to attract inward investment or form partnerships. The companies and organisations evincing interest in Gujarat’s investment opportunities were all invited to explore the same. They were also assured of all cooperation on behalf of the State Government, its agencies and industry partners.  

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