Gandhinagar, 9 Jan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show 2024 on the eve of the main summit.

The show is an exhibition spread across 2 lakh square metres in multiple halls at the Helipad Ground Exhibition Centre here.

A total of 20 countries are participating in the show, which was inaugurated ahead of the tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. The summit will also be inaugurated by the prime minister.

Modi, who is on a three-day visit to his home state, arrived at the venue at 3 pm and undertook a tour of stalls with Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and other dignitaries.

Students from local colleges were present in large numbers to greet the PM and other officials at the inauguration.

Earlier in the day, the PM met heads of states and senior officials from Mozambique, Timor, Timor-Leste at the Mahatma Gandhi Mandir, which will also host the main summit.

He also held meetings with global CEOs, including Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron, DP World's chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Toshihiro Suzuki, senior officials from Deakin University, Vincent Clerc of AP Moller Maersk.

The trade show will be open for business on Wednesday and Thursday, and then for the general public for two more days.

Australia, Tanzania, Morocco, Mozambique, South Korea, Thailand, Estonia, Bangladesh, Singapore, UAE (United Arab Emirates), UK, Germany, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, Russia, Rwanda, Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam will present information about their industries at the exhibition.

It has 1,000 exhibitors specifically from the research sector. The show also consists of 13 halls dedicated to an equal number of themes such as 13 different themes, including 'Make in Gujarat' and 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'.

Women empowerment, MSME development, new technology, green and smart infrastructure, sustainable energy are the special focus areas for the show.