Pakistani delegation finally makes it to India for entrepreneurship summit

Visa process was made easier when US State Department intervened

A six-member Pakistani delegation set to take part in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit-2017 has reached Hyderabad, India, after undergoing a tedious and aggressive visa process, The Hindu reported on Saturday.

The delegation had had problems because the rules required that participants apply for the visa 30 days before the event began, which the Pakistani delegation couldn’t fulfill. However, the US State Department and embassy in Pakistan, working closely with the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, was able to assist the delegation in acquiring the visas required.

“The people in the Indian High Commission were phenomenally nice to us,” said Meenah Tariq, Head of Strategy and Accelerator, Invest2Innovate, Pakistan. Meena got her visa within a day.

“The people in the Indian High Commission were phenomenally nice to us,” said Meenah Tariq, who heads Strategy and Accelerator, Invest 2 Innovate. Meenah received her visa within a day then.



Another Pakistani participant, Sadia Bashir, who was coming from the United States, was also assisted by the US Embassy. The Indian authorities asked her to submit a long list of official documents, something she couldn’t do as time was running out.

“They called us in person and enquired whether everything was all right. After arriving in India, however, one of the male members was asked to report to the police and he missed the event inaugurated by Ivanka Trump, adviser to US President. Even on Thursday, the last day of the event, the team members said he had gone to report to the police,” she recalled.

The GES-2017 is being organised by the US and Indian government in Hyderabad.