Gandhinagar, September 9: Hon. Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Vijay Rupani received a delegation from Australia led by Her Excellency Harinder Sidhu, Australian High Commissioner to India, in Gandhinagar on Friday.

Mr Rupani and Ms Sidhu with their delegations discussed cooperation and collaboration in the areas of education and skill development, ahead of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017.

Discussions around water management experiences and sharing of best practices were also discussed during the meeting.

Australia, being a partner country for the summit, has shown keen interest in participating in the Global CEO Conclave & Nobel Laureates program during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

Earlier, Gujarat had led a delegation to Australia, to conduct road-shows across key cities. The delegation participated in various events including the “Australia-India Women’s Entrepreneurs’ Forum”, interacting with important business leaders.

The delegation met with officials from Hockey Australia – the governing body for field hockey in Australia, when the delegation expressed willingness to collaborate on multiple fronts including academic collaboration in the areas of Sports Technology, Sports Engineering, Sports Medicine, Sports Management and Sport Sciences.

Other stops for the delegation included top educational institutions and Australia’s key education body, TAFE Directors Australia (TDA) – thus allowing the delegation to learn from an institution governing Australia’s 58 Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes, university TAFE divisions and the Australia-Pacific Technical College (APTC).

The Indian delegation was led by Mr. Pankaj Kumar (I.A.S), Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation, Government of Gujarat. He made a special presentation entitled ‘Destination Gujarat’ during the roadshow.

Speaking at the roadshow, Mr. Kumar said, “I had the honor of leading the Vibrant Gujarat 2017 delegation to Australia from 1 – 5 August 2016. During our visit, we met several senior ministers, government officials, business leaders & reputed educational institutions and we realized that there is an increased interest amongst the Australian community towards India and Gujarat.

“Gujarat is privileged to have Australia as one of the partner countries for Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017. We are looking forward for this opportunity to establish collaborations between various sector experts and businesses and strengthen relationship between the state of Gujarat and Australia.”

The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit started in 2003 to energise the pace of investments in the state.

Government of Gujarat, as part of its journey towards sustainable long-term growth and inclusive development is organizing the 8th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit from the 10th to 13th of January 2017 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar.

By K. Dev