The three-day summit was to be held in a big way to attract investments, and delegations from many partner countries and CEOs of top companies were supposed to participate in the event.
The Gujarat government on Thursday decided to postpone the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, that was to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 10, in the wake of a spike in COVID-19 cases, according to the Chief Minister's Office.
On Wednesday, the daily COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 3,000-mark for the first time after May 26 last year with the addition of 3,350 infections, raising the state's tally to 8,40,643. Also, Gujarat reported 50 new cases of the Omicron variant on Wednesday, taking the tally of such cases in the state to 204, as per the state health department.
“Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, after analysing the situation, has decided to postpone the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit as of now, to stop the spread of the COVID-19 and its new variant Omicron among people of the state,” an official communication from the CM's said. The decision has been taken as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in the world and the country, it said.
“The entire state administration has now decided to focus its energy on how to deal with the rising cases of coronavirus. At present, the situation due to the spike in COVID-19 cases in the state is relatively under control due to the state government's action of testing, tracing and treating those infected by the virus,” the CM's office said.
The earlier versions of the summit played a crucial role in the development of Gujarat as an industrialised state, it noted. For the 10th edition of the summit also, many head of states, business leaders and high-level delegations from various countries had registered for participation, the release said quoting CM Patel.
"I express gratitude towards those who had registered themselves, partner countries and business leaders for showing interest in the summit and I hope they will do so in future also,” the CM said. Patel also thanked PM Modi for his guidance and inspiration to hold the summit. The prime minister was scheduled to inaugurate the summit on January 10 and have one-on-one meetings with various head of states, including Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Nepal PM Sher Bahadur Deuba.
The organisation of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit was started in 2003 when Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, to attract investments in the state. In the run-up to the 10th edition of the summit, 139 investment intentions were signed by the state with various private companies in the country and abroad, promising investment of crores of rupees in Gujarat. Some pre-Vibrant events were also held in the state.
Chief Minister Patel had held road shows in Mumbai, Delhi and Dubai, while other ministers and top officials visited various different parts of India and other countries to organise similar events to attract investment.
With inputs from PTI.