GSIA distances itself from Vibrant Goa Summit

Goa's premier industry body, the Goa Small Industries Association, announced the withdrawal of its support to the Vibrant Goa Summit for investors Wednesday citing misgivings about its organizing body. The summit, aimed at attracting investment and being promoted by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, is scheduled to be held in October.

GSIA president Rajkumar Kamat said the association withdrew the support as it needed clarifications about the Vibrant Goa Foundation which is organizing the event. Earlier this month Kamat had addressed a pre-summit program here expressing his support for the event.

A GSIA official said it's executive and advisory committees, which met on June 22 and 24, respectively, decided "unanimously" to pull out of the event. "The decision was taken after it came to light that Vibrant Goa Foundation is a private trust over which GSIA has neither governance control nor any influence in decision- making the process," he added.

"It was felt that any failure in governance by the foundation would affect our reputation as an associate," the official said.