WASHINGTON: The US has agreed to be a partner country in the next edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January 2017, an official has said.
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal announced this during a meeting with the visiting delegation of Gujarat, State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Biswal met with a Gujarat delegation, led by Resident Commissioner Bharat Lal who was accompanied by Indian Charge d’Affaires Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu.
“The Assistant Secretary praised Resident Commissioner Lal for his efforts to make the state of Gujarat a model of innovation and sustainable economic growth and reform for India,” he said.
“She also announced US’ intent to participate as a Partner Country in the 2017 Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, the government of Gujarat’s biennial investors’ summit that brings together global business leaders, investors, corporations, thought leaders, and policymakers,” Kirby said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry had attended the last Vibrant Gujarat Summit.
India’s growth engine
USIBC president Mukesh Aghi had an interaction with the delegation of senior officials and business leaders from Gujarat. Gearing up to participate in next year’s Vibrant Gujarat Summit, the USIBC termed Gujarat as India’s “growth engine”.
“The state of Gujarat is one of the leading states in India for industries and is recognized as India’s growth engine;” he said and added that “Vibrant Gujarat Summit is one of the most notable efforts in India’s attempts to place itself as the topmost investment destination.”
Aghi said the summit is also timely as it will be held during a critical phase of the GST roll-out.
Led by Bharat Lal, Resident Commissioner of Gujarat, the Gujarat delegation concluded its multi-city roadshow in the US.
The multi-city industry roundtables aim to provide an opportunity for the delegation to present Gujarat as the leading investment destination in India.
USIBC organized industry receptions and roundtables in Houston, Chicago, New York, Washington DC and Menlo Park, providing an opportunity for the delegation to meet over 100 top US companies across industries, including healthcare, food and agriculture, defense, logistics and infrastructure.
Some of the companies in attendance during the roadshow included MasterCard, UST Global, JP Morgan, Thompson Reuter, Abbott, Aemetis, Lockheed Martin, Cisco and Welspun.
As part of the roadshow, the Council also hosted a roundtable with Ajay Pandey, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT).
GIFT is being developed as a global financial and IT services hub, a first of its kind in India, designed to be at or above par with globally benchmarked financial centers.
Pandey discussed the International Financial Services Centre in GIFT and the benefits to the entities setting up operations in these cities that include the Minimum Alternative Tax, reduced from 18.5 per cent to nine per cent, the Security Transaction Tax (STT), Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT) and Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) waived off, a media release said. -PTI
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