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A red carpet welcome and Gujarati culture and cuisines await Chinese President Xi Jinping who will arrive here on Wednesday on a six-hour visit to the state as part of his India visit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expected to showcase the country’s economic potential and investment opportunities.
The Chinese President’s Gujarat visit is being viewed as rare event as Heads of State and Government normally begin their tour of India from New Delhi or the metros. However, major diplomatic and economic engagements between the two countries will take place in the national capital on Thursday.
Modi, who arrived here on Tuesday, will receive Jinping at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport here at around 2.30 pm, on Wednesday. Also present on the occasion will be Gujarat Governor Om Prakash Kohli and Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, among others.
From the airport, the Chinese President will drive down to Hotel Hyatt next to the Vastrapur Lake where about 50 industrialists from Gujarat will interact with their Chinese counterparts. Some MoUs will also be signed on the occasion.
According to Nitin Patel and Saurabh Patel, Gujarat Cabinet ministers and government spokespersons, the State will sign an agreement with China’s Guangdong province, followed by another between Ahmedabad and Guangzhou cities for improvement of civic services.
In addition, an agreement will also be signed by China Development Bank with the Gujarat Government’s industrial promotion body, iNDEXTb (Industrial Extension Bureau), for the setting up of a Chinese industrial park at Karjan near Vadodara. The agreement aims at promotion of trade and industries mainly in the fields of electrical equipment manufacturing and electronics.
In the evening, Jinping will also pay a visit to the Gandhi Ashram on the banks of Sabarmati River to pay tributes to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. He will then head towards the Sabarmati Riverfront Park where Jinping and Modi, accompanied with their delegations, will join a dinner hosted by the Gujarat Government.
The Jinping-Modi meeting at the Riverfront Park is being viewed with interest abroad. Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner and senior IAS officer Guru Prasad Mohapatra, who is currently in the USA, told Business Line that he had distributed photographs of this venue as many people had evinced interest in it.
Nitin Patel informed that the Chinese President and his delegation will be catered “cent per cent Gujarati authentic cuisines”, all vegetarian.
After this early dinner, Jinping and Modi will depart for New Delhi from the airport.
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