Bhupendra Patel to be first Gujarat CM in over 25 yrs to visit US, Canada

Bhupendra Patel, currently serving as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, will embark on a high-level delegation to the United States and Canada from August 17 to 24. This visit will mark the first time since 1995 that a sitting Chief Minister will make an official trip to the US, according to government sources. The announcement was made by Jitu Vaghani, a government spokesperson and senior minister, during a media briefing following the State Cabinet meeting led by Patel.

The last time a Gujarat Chief Minister paid an official visit to the US was in 2005, when Narendra Modi, who later became Prime Minister, was denied a visa by US authorities. Following Modi's ascension to the Prime Minister's office, his successor Anandiben Patel, who is now the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, made her first foreign visit (as Chief Minister) to China in 2015. In 2019, the late Vijay Rupani, who was the Chief Minister at the time, had visited Russia during his second term in office.

The visit by Patel aims to invite global businessmen, investors, and technology leaders for the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, scheduled for the following year. The goal is to attract maximum investment in Gujarat. The CM's visit comes at a time when sectors like diamond manufacturing in Surat have been adversely affected by the sanctions imposed on Russia due to the war with Ukraine.

Additionally, the US has imposed higher tariffs on countries purchasing Russian crude oil, impacting Indian businesses. In a previous effort to promote the biennial event, Patel had previously visited the UAE and Japan in 2021 and 2023, respectively.