Obama postpones Malaysia visit due to government shutdown

US President Barack Obama has decided to postpone a planned visit to Malaysia where he was scheduled to attend the fourth Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2013, October 11-12, announced Malaysian PM Najib Razak. In remarks to reporters upon return from the US, Razak said, Wednesday, the postponement was due to the need to address the US government shutdown. He added that President Obama had expressed regret at the need to cancel his visit, pointing out that Secretary of State John Kerry will represent him at the summit. Malaysian authorities had earlier reported receipt of Obama's confirmation of his visit and attendance of the summit. The first entrepreneurship summit was held in Washington, DC back in 2010 on Obama's initiative, as an effort initially aiming at better interaction with Islamic countries. It came within the policy of building bridges with Muslim countries as a means to help address security issues and concerns, and within Obama's call for a new start in Washington-Islamic nations relations based on mutual understanding. As for the upcoming summit, "it will serve to connect entrepreneurs, educators, bankers, venture capitalists, angel investors, incubators, and policy makers." Host Malaysia is expecting that more than 3,000 people from over 50 countries will attend the Summit, with the theme "Empowering and Connecting Entrepreneurs." According to BERNAMA news agency, the topics to be discussed include "innovative business models, disruptive innovation, the maker movement, digital entrepreneurship, innovative funding models, talent development, taking start-ups global, and learning from success and failure." It is still unclear whether the remainder of Obama's program is affected by the federal shutdown. The original program includes a stop in Indonesia for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and another in Brunei for the East Asia Summit.