President Donald Trump arrives with his daughter Ivanka Trump for a working session at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany. | AP Photo Trump pledges $50 million to women entrepreneurs' fund championed by Ivanka

President Donald Trump announced Saturday at the G-20 summit that the U.S. has pledged $50 million to the World Bank's fund spurring women entrepreneurs, a program supported by his daughter Ivanka Trump.

"When more women participate in the work force, which by the way will be a lot more competition for people like me prior to government... the world economy will grow and millions of people will be lifted out of poverty," the president said, according to a pool report.


President Trump also said women in developing and developed countries present "tremendous promise for economic growth and prosperity."

The World Bank is seeking $1 billion for the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, which will provide loans, mentorship and other services to small businesses run by women around the world.

Trump also spoke about his daughter, who serves as an unpaid adviser to her father and has sought to advocate for women in her father's administration.

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"I'm very proud of my daughter Ivanka, always have been from day one, I have to tell you that," he said.

"If she weren't my daughter it would be so much easier for her," Trump said to some slightly nervous laughter, according to the pool report. "It might be the only bad thing going for her."

Trump also praised World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, adding, "my friend, ah Kim, great guy, really is."

"I might have even appointed him, but I didn't," he said to laughs.

Kim said Ivanka Trump was the catalyst for the initiative, bringing her own business experience and clout.

“This is going to be a what we hope will be a multibillion dollar fund to support women entrepreneurs,” he said, adding that the fund will drive economic growth and help reduce chronic inequities still facing women, especially in developing countries.

Ivanka Trump said she was surprised at how little was being done to promote female business-owners and said that "study after study shows, showed that investing in women is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also a very strategically prudent thing to do as you think about developing those economies.”