Gujarat chief minister on foreign tour to seek investments

Monday, 18 August 2003, 19:30 IST
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AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a foreign trip Sunday to attract overseas investment in a wide spectrum of industrial sectors in the state. Modi's week-long overseas tour, the first since getting re-elected as chief minister in December, was originally planned to bring back the ashes of India's revolutionary freedom fighter Shyamji Krihna Verma. The visit will also include road shows for the global investors' meet to be held next month. Modi will leave for London from New Delhi on Sunday. He will be in Zurich August 21 and in Geneva August 22 before returning to Mumbai on August 24. Modi will hold business meetings with an aim to attract private investments in the state's infrastructure, said official sources. He will also invite potential investors to attend the Vibrant Gujarat investors' meet to be held here from September 28 to 30. The meet is being jointly organised by the state government and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Major investors worldwide, including non-resident Indians, are expected to take part in the meet. During his stay in London, Modi will hold interactions with British corporate leaders. ICICI, one of India's reputed private sector financial institutions, has arranged a series of interactions with leading British financial firms. Modi will hold a round-table conference in Zurich, while the Confederation of Indian Industry has also organised a meet under the aegis of World Economic Forum where the chief minister would address corporate leaders. Observers say Modi's visit is aimed at consolidating Gujarat's position as one of India's most industrialised states by attracting domestic as well as overseas private investments. Though Gujarat has been leading the race among Indian states to attract investment since the launch of the liberalisation programme in 1991, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are fast catching up. Senior ministers and bureaucrats too have joined in the efforts to promote Gujarat abroad. Industry Minister Anilbhai Patel visited the U.S. last week and invited investors to attend the Vibrant Gujarat meet. Senior bureaucrats are scheduled to visit Germany in the days ahead. Modi will collect the mortal remains of freedom fighter Verma in Geneva. The radical freedom fighter died in Geneva on March 31, 1930. His ashes and those of his wife, who died in 1933, are preserved in Geneva. Though the demand to bring back the ashes is not new, the project never materialised for the past 73 years. Verma, who advocated armed struggle for independence, was born on October 4, 1857 in Mandwa village in Kutch. Inspired by Maharishi Dayanand, the founder of Arya Samaj, he went abroad for higher education and was the first Indian graduate from the Oxford University. He also held important positions like minister and chief minister in princely states of Ratlam, Udaipur and Junagarh. He established in 1905 the India Home Rule Society to work for India's freedom.
Source: IANS