Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday will inaugurate the ninth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit during his three-day visit to the state. The summit is being organised in capital Gandhinagar and will start from January 18 till 20. Apart from attending the summit, PM Modi will also take part in various other programmes including his visit Silvassa, the capital of the neighbouring Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Upon his arrival on January 17, PM Modi would first inaugurate the ''Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show'' which is an integral part of the biennial investor summit.

As per reports, heads of 5 countries and over 20,000 national and international delegates are expected to attend the summit between January 18 and 20. Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Rwanda President Paul Kagame, Prime Minister of Denmark Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Andrej Babis and Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat shall be attending the summit. As many as 15 countries including France, Australia, Canada and Japan are to be ‘partner countries’ for the event.

Some leading Indian businessmen including Mukesh Ambani, Uday Kotak, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Gautam Adani, Adi Godrej, Pankaj Patel and others are also expected to attend the summit. Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit was initiated by PM Modi back in 2003 when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. The summit was started in order to attract investment to the state.

Later in the day, PM Modi will also be visiting the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-run VS Hospital in Ahmedabad. In the city itself, the PM will inaugurate first Ahmedabad shopping festival held on the lines similar to Dubai shopping festival. Post inaugurating the summit, PM Modi will also take part in a round-table conference of the sovereign wealth funds, which is being held in the country for the first time.

Despite participation from various countries across the globe, no business delegation from Pakistan would attend the upcoming summit as its industry members have not got visas to travel to India, Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) told news agency PTI.

GCCI further stated that it had extended an invitation to Pakistan industry representatives for the investor summit, but they will not be attending the three-day event in absence of visas. A controversy had erupted when the GCCI, while inviting several global trade bodies for the meet, also extended invitation to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce (KCC).