Two Arab countries have pledged to donate $100 million towards a fund designed for women entrepreneurs proposed by the president’s eldest daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, according to a report.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will contribute $100 million towards the World Bank’s Women Entrepreneurs Fund, which Ivanka proposed, the Wall Street Journal reported.
ABC News reported that World Bank president Jim Yong Kim announced the countries’ pledge at a Sunday event on women’s economic empowerment with Ivanka.
At the event, Ivanka praised Saudi Arabia for making “progress” as a nation towards empowering women, but she added that “there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
“Saudi Arabia’s progress, especially in recent years, is very encouraging but there’s still a lot of work to be done and freedoms and opportunities to continue to fight for,” she said. “The stories of Saudi women, such as yourselves, catalyzing change, inspire me to believe in the possibility of global women’s empowerment.”
The Islamic nation prohibits women from driving and requires that women get permission from a man to travel in public. It also imposes strict segregation of the sexes and requires that women cover themselves in public.
The first daughter, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, proposed the idea for the $1 billion fund to the World Bank, USA Today reported.
The proposed fund would be controlled entirely by the World Bank, which means Ivanka would not be involved in the fund’s management or solicit funds for the initiative, but she would remain an advocate for the project, Bloomberg Politics reported.