US State Dept lauds GES 2017 in India; calls it a 'tremendous success'

Ivanka Trump was personally invited by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June for GES 2017

The Spokesperson for the United States Department of State, Heather Nauert, on Thursday said that the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) held in India was a "tremendous success".

At a press conference in the national capital, Nauert said, "I am so proud that the US and India held the global entrepreneurship summit in Hyderabad... I think it's a tremendous success when we bring in 1,500 entrepreneurs from around the world."

When asked by ANI on Ivanka Trump leading the US delegation in the summit, she said, "We are also proud that Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump's daughter and one of his most trusted and closest adviser, led the US delegation over there. I, personally, think of no better representative of a woman entrepreneur in the US than her to go over there."

Ivanka was personally invited by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June earlier this year to spearhead the delegation.

Ivanka's visit to India has been clouded by US media reports questioning Trump's clothing line and its supply chain as well as what some view as a snub by Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, who has reportedly refused to send senior staff with Trump to India. But Nauert clearly rubbished these reports.

"The State Department was very involved in helping to facilitate all of these. We have a bunch of people on the ground there," the spokesperson added.

On the 1,500 entrepreneurs from across the world attending the summit, Nauert said, "Our embassies helped nominate, if I understand that correctly, many of the entrepreneurs from around the world. Picking entrepreneurs saying that we would like to help you get to India to be able to talk about the great work you are doing, the jobs that you are growing."

"Part of the theory behind that is women's empowerment and getting more women into the workforce by helping them succeed in growing companies by finding investors for those companies. So, we are pleased with that, that we brought in 1,500 and more than half of those are women," she added.

The three-day summit, which is being hosted for the first time in South East Asia, began in Hyderabad on Monday.

"Technology is a great driver of entrepreneurship because a lot of women are leaving and saying this doesn't work for me. It is emboldening them to go out on their own. It is reducing barriers to starting new businesses, and creating flexibility around schedule," Ivanka Trump said earlier in the summit.