Ivanka Trump will take the stage at a global conference in India Tuesday, but there might be a problem: Hardly anyone in India seems to know anything about President Donald Trump's eldest daughter.
Formerly a top executive at her family's company in New York and now a White House adviser, Ivanka Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, and the Indian government pulled out all the stops before her arrival, according to NBC News. Streets were cleared of trash and homeless people, and billboards adorned with "Trump portraits" have gone up.
The summit this year is focused on promoting female entrepreneurship, a key issue Ivanka Trump pledged to work on and encourage her father to support.
However, Indians are evidently unaware of Ivanka Trump and her current importance in American politics. The senior White House adviser has long been considered a sort of whisperer when it comes to her powerful father.
"I had never heard Ivanka's name but know of her father, President Trump," driver Syed Ali told NBC News.
Others praised the visit for its potential to strengthen relations and economic ties between the United States and India, the world's seventh-largest economy, according to the World Bank's gross domestic product rankings.
"Ivanka may not be a household name here in India, but her visit would certainly promote the India-USA business relationship in the informal way," teacher Damaynti Basu said. "This trip certainly helps her own promotion and also our city."
Furthermore, Ivanka Trump's visit is far better than if her father had gone to India. President Trump, evidently, isn't very popular there.
"She is the ideal person to make a visit like this, as she has impacted lives of so many people, and she is unlike her father, who doesn't enjoy good reputation here," office worker Janakiram Mutyala told NBC. "We are very happy that she has come to our city."
Indeed, the trip and speech could not only increase Ivanka Trump's brand and presence on the global stage, but also further her agenda on promoting women's rights and advancement within the business world.
In July at the Group of 20 summit in Germany, Ivanka Trump helped to secure $50 million in funding for the World Bank's Women Entrepreneur Initiative, or WeFi. The program provides loans to small businesses started and run by women.
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