U.S. Mission Announces Support for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit

The United States Mission to the United Arab Emirates is pleased to partner with the organizers of the upcoming Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Dubai on December 11-12, 2012. The GES will bring together policy-makers, entrepreneurial ecosystem leaders such as investors, educators, and mentors, along with the region's most successful entrepreneurs to discuss the critical global issues of innovation and entrepreneurship, and more importantly, to spur the ideas and actions that foster entrepreneurial growth.

Announced in 2009 by President Obama in his 'A New Beginning' speech at Cairo University in Egypt, the GES debuted the following year when the President held the first event in Washington, D.C. The 2nd annual GES followed in 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. The 3rd Annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit will be hosted by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, alongside the Entrepreneurial Ventures of Arabia (EVA) Summit and Expo. EVA will continue as an annual event of its own, anchoring and coordinating an ongoing regional effort to foster and promote entrepreneurship in the Middle East and Africa.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is in the process of transforming into one of the world's most dynamic high growth markets. The overwhelming key to that transition will be the development of new businesses, improving competitiveness, raising incomes, and generating employment. As a result, entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly becoming a priority for policymakers, investors, educators and others who understand the vital roles these groups play in the economic and political health of the region.

Selected sessions at the GES will include Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets, Creating 'Change' Leaders in the Connected World, Visioning a Unified MENA Entrepreneurship Ecosystem, and Confessions of a Serial-Entrepreneur. To learn more about the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, please visit http://www.ges-eva.com/.