Empowerment of women in focus

HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday met Ivanka Trump who is the leading the US delegation at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad as government laid out a red carpet welcome to the adviser of the US President.

Trump, who arrived in Hyderabad early in the morning, confined to her suite in Hotel Trident till afternoon, before heading to the International Convention Centre (HICC), the venue for the three-day Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES).

Just ahead of the inaugural ceremony of the summit, Swaraj met with Trump. The meeting was attended by US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster and other officials.

“….They had a productive discussion on women entrepreneurship and empowerment”, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet. Swaraj, who was not a speaker at the summit, went to Hyderabad to meet Trump.

Later, Prime Minister Modi met Ivanka. The GES is an event conceived by former US President Barack Obama. But this year’s edition is the first under the Trump administration.

The theme of the conference this year is “Women First, Prosperity for All”.

More than half the participants at the summit are women, and all-female delegations are representing countries such as Afghanistan, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“Entrepreneurship, creating jobs and empowerment of women are common themes of both US and India. Two sides are working together on this”, said an Indian official. There was no official read out about the meeting till the filing of the copy.

After addressing the inaugural session of the GES, Ivanka remained in the HICC to take part in a panel session on opening up opportunities for women entrepreneurs in their countries and communities.

It was attended by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, John Chambers, Chairman Emeritus, Cisco, Sibongile Sambo, Managing Director, SRS Aviation and SRS Petroleum and Marcus Wallenberg, Chairman, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB).