AHMEDABAD: The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit is going to cement ties with Islamic countries with many of them readying to participate in the eighth edition of the biennial event.Scheduled to be held in January, the summit is set to turn into a platform for India to take diplomatic engagement, initiated during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visits to some Middle East countries, to the next level of fostering bilateral partnerships.A bevy of high-profile government and business delegates from around two dozen Islamic countries as well as those predominantly Muslim will attend the investment summit, a brain child of Modi when he was Gujarat's chief minister.The prominent among to have confirmed their partici pation include names such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Kuwait and Qatar. Morocco, Algeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives and Iran , too, are likely to join in. It all started in 2009 with VGGS witnessing limited participation from the Mus lim world. The subsequent editions saw interest gro wing stronger with 10 na tions making it to the 2015 edition.In April 2016, the PM had visited Saudi Arabia and a joint statement was issued with King Salman bin Ab dulaziz Al Saud. Later in Au gust this year, the PM went to the UAE. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are most likely to ta ke part as partner countries in VGGS-2017. One of the most powerful fi nancial institutions in the Muslim world -Islamic Development Bank (IDB) -has confirmed that it will be participating in VGS 2017 and top companies like Saudi Binladin Group are also attending. The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce, UAE and the Oman chambers of commerce have also confirmed their participation.“We got very good response from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar governments and business communities. They not only confirmed that they would be sending govern ment delegations but key financial and corporate delegations as well,“ said chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) Zafar Sareshwala, who had accompanied Modi to Saudi Arabia and also led a Gujarat delegation last week to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.SJ Haider , principal secretary , Tourism and Climate Change Department led the delegation to UAE and Qatar. He said they had received an unprecedented response not from the governments of these two countries but even their business communities. “They are keen to participate in VGS-2017,“ he said.