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left-of-center2012

(34,195 posts) Wed Apr 3, 2019, 10:55 PM Apr 2019

Ivanka Trump Plans Africa Trip to Promote Women's Initiative

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-03/ivanka-trump-plans-africa-trip-to-promote-women-s-initiative?srnd=politics-vp

White House adviser Ivanka Trump is planning a trip to Africa to promote a global women's initiative she's leading.

President Donald Trump's daughter will visit Ethiopia and Ivory Coast over four days this month. The White House said Wednesday that her schedule includes a women's economic empowerment summit in Ivory Coast as well as site visits and meetings with political leaders, executives and female entrepreneurs in both countries.

It will be Ivanka Trump's first visit to Africa since the White House undertook the Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative in February. In a statement to The Associated Press, she said she was "excited to travel to Africa" to advance the effort.

The initiative involves the State Department, the National Security Council and other U.S. agencies. It aims to coordinate current programs and develop new ones to assist women in job training, financial support, legal or regulatory reforms and other areas. Ivanka Trump says the goal is to economically empower 50 million women in developing countries by 2025.

Ivanka Trump has made women's economic empowerment a centerpiece of her White House portfolio. She has made a number of international trips, with a focus on these issues, including to Japan and India. Her travel to Africa follows a five-day tour that first lady Melania Trump made there last year, with a focus on child welfare. Like the first lady, Ivanka Trump's efforts could be complicated by the president, who was criticized last year after his private comments about "s---hole countries" in Africa and other regions were leaked to journalists.