Ivanka Trump met with religious leaders Monday in Addis Ababa at Holy Trinity Cathedral, an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church.
The U.S. president’s daughter also laid a wreath at the cathedral to honor the victims of last month’s Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on board.
Trump arrived in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, Sunday for a summit on African women’s economic inclusion and empowerment.
Trump, who is a senior advisor to her father, visited a coffee shop and textile company in the capital Sunday. She is in the East African country to promote a $50 million initiative enacted by her father in February that is aimed at encouraging women’s employment in developing countries.
The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative says it hopes to “reach 50 million women by 2025, through the work of the the United States Government and its partners.”
“Fundamentally, we believe that investing in women is a smart development policy and it is a smart business,” Trump said after sampling coffee at a traditional Ethiopian ceremony. “It’s also in our security interest, because women, when we’re empowered, foster peace and stability.”
It was not immediately clear if the controversy that surrounds the U.S. president will follow his daughter to Africa. The president has not been kind in his remarks about Africa and its migrants.
Trump is also scheduled to meet with Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed before going on to Ivory Coast, where she will attend a meeting on economic opportunities for women in West Africa.
She is also scheduled to make an appearance at a World Bank policy summit.
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