Gujarat road show at Guangdong

 

20 June 2012, Guangzhou : The 12-member Vibrant Gujarat delegation visited China’s manufacturing and industrial hub – Guangdong,also popularly known as the “factory of the world”, where it presented Gujarat as the ‘next global business and manufacturing hub’ to a very enthusiastic Government officials, business and industry leaders. Guangdong province forms the backbone of ‘China’s industrial and manufacturing might’ with presence of diverse industries like heavy engineering and equipments, chemicals, ceramics, furniture, textiles, etc. After last year’s Economist’s description of Gujarat as India’s Guangdong, the business and industry in Guangdong looking towards Gujarat to provide them opportunities to make it their next destination. With China investing more than 60 billion US $ overseas during last year alone, they look towards Gujarat to make big-ticket investment and setting up join ventures in India, which will be mutually beneficial to India and China. The delegation being led by Mr. Bharat Lal, Principal Resident Commissioner, Government of Gujarat held detailed discussion with the Department of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation and the Foreign Affairs Office on potential areas of cooperation between Guangdong and Gujarat. He was also accompanied by other delegates as well as the Consul General of India in Guangzhou Mr. Indra Mani Pandey. “The economy of Guangdong is in the process of transformation and challenges like rising space constraints and spiralling cost of labour are making industries look towards Gujarat for expanding their global reach. As highlighted by the Guangdong provincial Government, Gujarat with its inherent strengths in terms of location, infrastructure and governance is being looked at as a valuable partner. The Government authorities and industry leaders, who are aware of Gujarat’s conducive business environment with a vast pool of skilled manpower, entrepreneurial spirit of its people and access to markets in Gulf, Africa and Europe, showed their eagerness to collaborate as both provinces are industrial leaders in their respective countries and complement each other in several sectors.

 

The consulate of India also organized a seminar on Vibrant Gujarat – 2013 in Guangzhou in partnership with China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) which witnessed participation from Guangdong provincial government officials as well as representatives of several Guangdong based industries. Representatives from sectors like engineering and equipments, metals, machinery, renewable energy and other manpower intensive sectors, expressed their keen interest in setting up their companies in Gujarat for large scale manufacturing. They enquired about and the process for setting up their companies in Gujarat which is expected to generate huge employment opportunities to local youth. The Gujarat delegation explained to them in detail the process adopted in Gujarat for setting up of any enterprise or business and the proactive approach of the State Government. The Chinese companies with experience of working in Gujarat also lauded the procedures and systems institutionalized by the State Government of Gujarat as well as its commitment to facilitate development and business in the state of Gujarat.

 

Last year more than USD 60 billion investments were made by Chinese industries and enterprises in various countries of which a negligible amount came to India. With the visit of Gujarat Chief Minister to China in November, 2011 the investment from China to Gujarat has started in a big way and today’s deliberations and road show has given further impetus to big ticket investments from Guangdong to Gujarat. During the seminar, Executive Director of Gujarat Venture Finance Limited, Dr. Harish Patnaik also gave the details of proposed Investment Fund and discussion was held with Guangdong based banks and financial institutions to work for creation of such a fund to facilitate investment from China in Gujarat.

 

To strengthen the partnership and to push the on-going collaboration between Guangdong and Gujarat, the Governor of Guangdong province also extended an impromptu invite to Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Narendra Modi to visit Guangdong in November, 2012 when Guangdong plans to host an international cooperation week and meetings with major leaders from across the world with whom they have strong relations, especially other BRICS countries, USA, Japan, France, etc.

 

Mr. Bharat Lal, extended an invitation to Guangdong’s government officials to participate in Vibrant Gujarat – 2013 along with their industry and business leaders which was accepted by the Director General of Department of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation as well as Department of Foreign Affairs. In the meeting, Guangdong officials also emphasized that they would look forward to the visit of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Narendra Modi to Guangdong as it is important for both the leading provinces of India and China to join hands and work together.

 

The delegation also visited Foshan, the ‘capital of ceramics industries’ in China and interacted with various industry representatives who explained to the delegation their operations and showcased various ceramic products. A symposium was organized in collaboration with Foshan Ceramics Industry Association and the Consulate.  In the symposium, presentations on Vibrant Gujarat and its ceramics industries was made. It was noted that India imported more than 60% of its ceramics from China and Gujarat, the leader of ceramics in India with its already present huge ceramic base, skilled man power and gas grid availability was best placed to attract investments from Chinese firms for setting up of local units in advanced ceramics. Many of these units are in sectors like glaze and frit manufacturing, ceramic machinery and other products that are currently being imported from China as also mentioned by the ceramic leaders of Foshan. Local units through joint ventures for these products will help Chinese firms in cutting down transport costs and are expected to accrue large scale benefits to the Ceramic industries in Gujarat.

 

After completion of China leg of Vibrant Gujarat promotion, today the delegation moved to Hong Kong and with the help of Indian Consulate, is holding two road shows on manufacturing and financial services as well meeting several top firms based at Hong Kong.
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