US state secretary John Kerry arrives for two-day visit

PETALING JAYA: US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived here for a two-day visit representing President Barack Obama for the fourth Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2013 beginning Friday.

Kerry, who flew in from Bandar Seri Begawan after attending the East Asia Summit (EAS), would meet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak prior to the opening of GES.

Najib will open the summit, which brings together entrepreneurs from the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the US and provide an important platform to network, exchange experiences, knowledge and form business alliances.

Kerry would deliver a special address at the two-day GES 2013, themed, "Empowering and Connecting Entrepreneurs" which is expected to be attended by 3,900 delegates from over 100 countries.

The US Senator was accompanied by US Trade Representative Michael Frohman, Assistant Secretary of State Danny Russel and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.

Obama, who was scheduled to address the summit, cancelled his trip to Malaysia in order to tackle his government's partial shutdown crisis.

On hand to meet Kerry at the Royal Malaysian Air Force base at Subang was Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin.

GES has united policy makers, regulators, entrepreneurs, small-and-medium enterprises (SME), stakeholders, investors, corporate leaders, non-government organisations and incubators in discussing support and development of the SME eco-system.

The GES in Malaysia, which by far has attracted the largest number of participants since its inception in 2010 in Washington, would among others, embrace the entrepreneurial spirit of youths the world over as a crucial ingredient in advancing economies and in national development. - Bernama