Gujaratstartups, AHMEDABAD: Few politicians understand branding better than Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The fifth edition of biennial global investors’ summit slated for January 2011, which is being tagged as ‘Davos in Action’, will focus more on branding the state as a business hub where deals are done, rather than just an investment destination.

In a gradual deviation from previous events, the upcoming summit has been renamed as ‘Vibrant Gujarat 2011: The Global Business Hub’ instead of ‘Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit’.

“This time the main objective of the summit won’t be limited to signing MoUs. Now, it’s time for the next leap,” said a senior official in the chief minister’s office. During the last event in January 2009, nearly 7,000 MoUs worth $240 billion were signed.

More importantly, there was participation from nearly 45 countries. The next event would leverage this international participation. “It will be more of a networking event on the lines of World Economic Forum in Davos or Global Entrepolis @ Singapore,” said a source.

To put things in perspective, MoUs will only be a small part of the event. “We will have top CEOs discussing global issues — a first for Gujarat. Also, a lot of emphasis is being laid on collaborations in every possible field,” he said. The state government has set an ambitious target of forging at least 100 tie-ups with leading institutions from across the globe for exchange of knowledge.

“This exercise may not yield tangible results in the immediate future but will have endless intangible gains in a longer run. Besides, we believe we are past that stage where we were required to run after investors,” he said.

Source: Times Of India