US welcomes India's decision to host GES next year

By PTI

Updated: Thursday, June 23, 2016, 14:28 [IST]

Washington, June 23: The US has welcomed India's decision to host the next Global Entrepreneurship Summit, saying the move would cultivate an environment to foster great entrepreneurship and open government.

"We welcome India's commitment to entrepreneurship and, indeed, they have sought in India to cultivate an environment that fosters great entrepreneurship and open government," said Deputy US National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes.

This year's Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) would be held in Silicon Valley. "We believe that entrepreneurship is a fundamental American value that attracts a lot of desire for collaboration around the world," he said.

"This summit is meant to showcase our efforts to elevate entrepreneurship as a part of our foreign policy as well as our economic policy, because, frankly, the more that we are helping to grow emerging markets around the world and invest in innovative economic growth solutions, the more those become markets for our own goods, and the more we all benefit from innovation-driven economic growth," Rhodes said.

India's decision to host the summit next year was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit here. Previewing this years summit, the Chief US Technology Officer Megan Smith said GES is a reflection of the US government's commitment to support that kind of entrepreneurship as a foundational tool for building a more economically prosperous, secure and globally connected community around the world.

This year, entrepreneurs from 170 countries are participating at the GES. Notably, there will be a contingent of entrepreneurs from Cuba, Rhodes said.

"We are expecting a number of foreign governments to participate, and the manner in which the governments are participating is that they are making commitments in their own countries to support entrepreneurs, and then that brings them into the fold of the GES process. We will be able to detail that over the next couple days while we're out in California," he said.

PTI