Ivanka Trump talks up LatAm women's fund for entrepreneurs

LIMA: Ivanka Trump, daughter and advisor to US President Donald Trump, on Friday announced a private-public funding plan to boost businesses started by women in Latin America.

Ivanka Trump unveiled the initiative in Lima, ahead of a summit of leaders across Latin America and North America in which she and US Vice President Mike Pence are standing in for Trump, who canceled at the last minute to oversee the US-led response to a suspected poison gas attack in Syria.

Ivanka Trump said the plan called for $150 million in seed money that would be multiplied three times through private sector contributions.

The funds would help women gain "access to capital, work and opportunities," she said at a pre-summit business event attended by dozens of Peruvian women entrepreneurs.

Ivanka Trump has sought to promote women's empowerment from her perch at her father's White House. She also has her own self-branded fashion line in the United States.

Her husband, Jared Kushner, was set to join her at the Lima summit later Friday, flying in with Pence, who leads the US delegation.