Indian entrepreneurs hope to attend summit with Ivanka Trump

NEW DELHI: A U.S.-backed entrepreneurship conference that President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, is attending in India this month has been flooded with applications amid deepening ties between India and the U.S.

Thousands of Indian entrepreneurs want to attend the three-day Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), from November 28 in the city of Hyderabad, though organisers say they can accommodate only 400 from India and 800 from the United States and the rest of the world.

“Definitely, the response was much, much more than the 400. India has become a very important start-up destination,” said Jayesh Ranjan, a government official in Hyderabad who is helping organise the event.

“Also, when she speaks as the head of the U.S. delegation, in a way she would be communicating what is the official position of the U.S. government about entrepreneurship, about start-ups,” he said of Ivanka Trump.

Ranjan could not confirm a report in the Times of India daily that said about 44,000 Indian entrepreneurs had applied for the 400 slots, though he said it was in the thousands. The application deadline was October 7. GES was conceived by former U.S. President Barack Obama. It was previously held in Washington, Istanbul, Dubai, Mar- rakech in Morocco, Nairobi, Kuala Lumpur and Silicon Valley in the United States.

This will be the first such summit under Trump, who this year said on the social network Twitter that his daughter would lead the U.S. delegation to support women’s entrepreneurship globally.

The theme of the conference this year is “Women First, Prosperity for All”. On a visit to New Delhi last month, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the conference was an example of how Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were “promoting innovation, expanding job opportunities, and finding new ways to strengthen both of our economies”.

India is already a major market for the United States, with bilateral trade at about $115 billion last year. They aim to raise that to $500 billion by 2022. Military and strategic ties are also improving amid rising Chinese influence in Asia and beyond.

More than 1,500 people are expected at GES Hyderabad, including entrepreneurs, 300 investors, government officials and others, Ranjan said. Modi, who will inaugurate the conference, told Trump in a meeting in the Philippines on Monday that he looked forward to hosting the U.S. delegation in Hyderabad, “showcasing innovation and collaboration between India and the United States”.