Ivanka Trump to Lead U.S. Team for Entrepreneurship Summit
President Donald Trump speaks about small businesses while daughter and advisor to the President Ivanka Trump listens, during event in the East Room at the White House, Aug. 1, in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
The upcoming 3-day Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad in India, likely to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is billed as “a big event,” with presence of President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump.
Business leaders from across the globe, along with entrepreneurs and investors, will be in attendance.
India and the U.S. will co-host the three-day event. The American delegation will be led by Ivanka.
A US official in New Delhi confirmed that the “big event” is slated for November 28 with “high-level” participation from the Government of India, but refused to confirm Modi’s participation, saying a formal announcement is yet to be made to this effect.
Sources, however, said the prime minister is likely to attend the high-profile event.
“Look forward to Ivanka Trump’s presence at GES 2017 Hyderabad as the leader of the US delegation,” Modi had said in a tweet last week. He said the event is aimed to bring together entrepreneurs of the two countries.
“Honored to lead the US delegation to GES2017 in India and meet with Prime Minister Modi and passionate entrepreneurs from around the globe!” Ivanka had tweeted.
The theme of the summit is ‘Women First, Prosperity for All’, highlighting the critical role women play in fostering global growth and prosperity.
“We hope to have women represent at least 50 percent of entrepreneurs and investors,” the U.S. official said.
The focus sectors of the GES include energy and infrastructure; healthcare and life sciences; financial technology in digital economy; media and entrepreneurship and possibly, agriculture and agricultural entrepreneurship.
“The GES will showcase how the US and India are increasingly beginning to converge on different aspects,” the U.S. official said, adding that the bilateral ties are doing quite well. The summit is also a chance to reinforce our increasing cooperation on entrepreneurship and technology,” he said.
Other than the US, the GES had been held earlier in Morocco, Kenya, the UAE, Malaysia and Turkey. This is for the first time that the event is being held in India.
Corporate giants, including Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, Cisco and Google, had participated in the previous summit, said the U.S. official, adding that a similar representation is expected this year as well.
“This is the new administration. In the last GES, President Obama showed up, but this time it looks like it will not be President Trump attending, so he has decided that his daughter Ivanka Trump will lead the U.S. delegation,” said the official.
Besides, the official added, the two countries are working out the possibility of holding the U.S.-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.