In a major development, the Gujarat government on Thursday canceled the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) scheduled to be held in Gandhinagar from January 10-12, 2022.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel took the decision after reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the state, which has seen a manifold increase in cases in the last one week.
A statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said that in order to prevent the spread of Omicron’s outbreak in the state and in the interest of citizens, the government has decided to postpone the summit for the time being.
The state reported 3,350 new cases on Wednesday, a three-fold increase from 1,059 recorded on January 1. The total active cases in the state rose to 10,994 on Wednesday, up from 3,927 on January 1.
In a statement, the Chief Minister said that the summit has received an overwhelming response in terms of registration from participants, partner countries and foreign representatives.
As per the earlier plan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to inaugurate the three-day business gathering at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar on January 10.
Heads of state and government of five countries were invited. This included the Prime Minister of Russia, Mikhail Mishustin; Mozambique’s President Filip Jacinto Nyusi; Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth; Sher Bahadur Deuba, Prime Minister of Nepal and Janez Jansa, Prime Minister of Slovenia.
A record 26 countries have participated for VGGS 2022 including Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Australia, Japan, Russia, UK, UAE, Israel, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, Netherlands, Denmark and Finland.
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