WHO chief says ‘grateful for warm welcome’, will attend Gujarat events with PM

WHO chief Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, who landed in Gujarat’s Rajkot on Monday night, thanked the government for a “warm welcome” hours before he was set to attend key events with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his home state.

Tedros is on a three-day visit to the state. “Just arrived in India and grateful for a warm welcome from the ministry of Ayush representatives. Looking forward to events which will set the foundation for integrating traditional medicine with modern health, and benefit people worldwide,” he wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, PM Modi also reached his home state on Monday where he launched a few projects. The PM is scheduled to launch over ₹20,000 crore worth of projects during his visit. Earlier on Monday, the prime minister had announced his two-day visit to Gujarat on Twitter, listing out all the events he will be a part of in a series of tweets.

In a packed schedule for the next two days, the WHO chief, along with PM Modi on Tuesday will lay the foundation stone of the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) in Jamnagar. The GCTM will be the first and only global outpost centre for traditional medicine across the world.

On Wednesday, he will accompany PM Modi to the inauguration of the Global AYUSH Investment and Innovation Summit in Gandhinagar at Mahatma Mandir. The summit is said to have around 90 speakers and 100 exhibitors.

As per officials, the summit will “help uncover investment potential and give a boost to innovation, research and development, and start-up ecosystem in the wellness industry, as well as bring together industry leaders, academicians, and scholars together and act as a platform for future collaborations”.

Meanwhile, Mauritian prime minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, who is on an eight-day visit to India, also arrived in Rajkot on Monday.