Andhra government will put its best foot forward for Ivanka Trump’s visit

When US President Donald J. Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump arrives in Hyderabad on 28 November, she will perhaps be the first ever child of a sitting American head of state to visit India alone for an international event.

Though being America’s First daughter may be important in its own way, officially the 36-year-old Ivanka holds a significant status and a unique position in the Trump Administration; she is also the adviser to the US president. While Ivanka is known to be her “daddy’s favourite daughter”, she and her real estate magnate husband, Jared Kushner, are said to be the “eyes and ears” of President Trump in handling the nation’s political, internal and diplomatic affairs. Both, Ivanka and Jared, have their own individual offices in west wing of theWhite House in Washington DC, from where they operate day in and day out to assist the president.

Ivanka is a daring talented and versatile businesswoman—exactly on the footsteps of her business tycoon father, who has made billions in assorted avocations and professions, such as show business, particularly television serials, real estate, higher education, hotels, etc.

Like father, like daughter, as they say; Ivanka’s company, “Ivanka Trump,” her business venture, is said to be worth several millions of dollars. But the Ivanka-Jared couple’s joint worth is said to exceed $740 million. Ivanka is also the executive vice-president of the Trump Organization, owned and created by her father, which she skillfully supervises and controls from the Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York.

When Ivanka commenced her business operations in January 2013, she began on a simple, small routine scale. Moreover, the business ambitions of both Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were groomed and fashioned by their education, as they both had attended one of America’s elitist business schools, the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, over the years, as her father’s political fortune bloomed, Ivanka’s business, too, prospered by leaps and bounds. Highly successful, the Ivanka enterprises deal with merchandise, specifically women’s beauty articles, accessories, high-end clothing, jewellery, spa services, hand-bags—all being manufactured by Chinese companies. Though the pace of manufacture and sale of these products were at a furious scale and speed before Ivanka joined the White House position full-time, it has now reportedly slowed down since August this year. A Chinese venture called Zhejiang Tongxiang Foreign Trade Group Company Limited is believed to have exported the Ivanka Trump Handbags to the US last year. Incidentally, paradoxically, while Donald Trump used to brand “Made in China” merchandise as “cheaters” during his 2016 presidential campaign, it’s the Chinese manufacturers who supply these goods to the US president’s businesswoman daughter.

Meanwhile, Ivanka’s active participation in the White House official work and her simultaneously continually fast-growing business has given rise to all sort of intrigues: wags only and loudly discussing the “conflict of interests” situation. For, Ivanka’s very presence during the Trump-Xi Jinping meetings and confabulations automatically inflate her status, and that subsequently gets reflected in boosting her business negotiations with the Chinese manufacturers. So much so that America’s renowned financial daily, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported in June this year that “the latest trademark requests for the Ivanka products follow the 36 applications that Ms Ivanka Trump’s company filed in China last year around the time Ivanka joined her father’s administration”.

Naturally, the flurry of Ivanka’s trademark applications filed in China by US President Donald Trump’s daughter has given rise to innumerable alarming forebodings, warning likely damaging and serious concerns “over whether the Trump family’s business interests may unduly influence foreign relations” with other countries. For, as the WSJ has reported, “China knows that to deny these applications would get a negative reaction from the (US) President, and to expedite their approval would get a positive reaction from the President.” 

In response to critics creating such nefarious impressions over the success of Ivanka’s business dealings, Ivanka has vigorously allayed their fears and concerns, saying that she has since “divested herself from her family business and placed her financial stakes in her brands in a Trust”. The Trust is now “overseen” by her brother-in-law, Josh Kushner, and her husband’s sister, Nicole Meyer, though Ivanka retains a stake in the company. Whether such measures will adequately equip her and save the President and the family from the allegations of the “conflicts of interest”, only time will tell. Moreover, it’s an open secret that Donald Trump himself also has not fully divested himself from his businesses so far, though he has almost completed one year in the White House.

Meanwhile, before Ivanka lands in Hyderabad for the eighth edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, 2017, the Andhra Pradesh government is striving its utmost to put its best foot forward and the state prepares to welcome U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s eldest daughter from his first wife, Ivana, Ivanka Trump Kushner, who arrives in this city on 28 November, will lead the U.S. delegation of eminent entrepreneurs and businessmen and businesswomen on the invitation of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi when he visited New York in June this year. Ivanka will preside over the inauguration of the summit along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nearly 1,200 delegates from over 100 nations are participating in the three-day function.   

Bewitchingly beautiful, profusely intelligent, and exquisitely trained businesswomen entrepreneur, the 36-year-old, mother of three, Ivanka Trump, senior adviser and daughter of the U.S. president, has also authored two instructive books for modern working women. The 2017 book, “Women Who Work–Rewriting the Rules for Success” and the second titled 2009, “The Trump Card-Playing to Win in Life and Work”. Ivanka will reach Hyderabad on 28 November, and leave the same day after inauguration due to the pressing political situation back home.

The summit’s four-fold themes are: Women First—prosperity for all; health and life sciences; digital economy; energy and infrastructure; media and entertainment. India’s businessmen and businesswomen hope to make the best of the opportunity that might open up by Ivanka Trump’s visit.