Ivanka Trump praises Queen Maxima ahead of Hague visit; Protest planned

Ivanka Trump will be giving the closing speech at the Global Entrepreneur Summit in The Hague on Wednesday. Ahead of her first ever visit to The Hague, she gave an email interview to Het Parool in which she praised Queen Maxima, called Amsterdam one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and spoke about her plans to empower women in developing countries.

"I met Her Majesty for the first time at the W20 [the women's summit at the G20] in March 2017. Thanks to our shared interests and the act that we are both committed to women's economic independence, a great relationship arose. I admire her passion, courage and leaderships. And I appreciate our friendship", Ivanka Trump. She is the eldest daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, and carries the White House title of Adviser to the President.

Not everyone is excited by Trump's visit to the Netherlands. A protest was scheduled to be held at the Global Entrepreneur Summit in The Hague on Wednesday, when Trump is expected to give her speech on "Women's Empowerment". The initiators of the protest call this a "travesty", given the increasingly harsh abortion laws across the United States.

"That Ivanka Trump is coming to the Netherlands to tell us about 'Women Empowerment' is a travesty. With this protest we want to call Ms Trump to stand unconditionally for women's and LGBT rights in her own country, including the right to self-determination for safe and legal abortion", Sin and Phillips said in a press release. "We also want to send a signal to the Dutch government: Trump's violation of human rights are unacceptable. The Netherlands must speak out against Trump's discriminatory practices and his corrupt policy."

In February the American government launched a plan to promote economic involvement of women worldwide, with Ivanka Trump leading. "The White House's priority is to unleash the full economic potential of women", she said to the newspaper. "Research shows that when women cannot participate in the economy of a country, there is a greater chance that the country will end up in a conflict and respond to violence immediately with a threat. In short: if women are involved in the economy, that is simply smart defense policy. For the first time our policy is aimed at removing all economic barriers for women in developing countries. That has an impact on millions of women in the world."

Trump gave no formal answer to the newspaper's follow-up question of how that new policy reconciles with her father's decision to substantially cut funding for family planning in developing countries. According to experts, family planning is an important part of letting women be economically independent, Parool wrote. Her spokesperson referred the newspaper to Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo, who said in April that no cuts were made to health care - the Trump Administration only made sure that no tax money was spent on abortion.

According to Parool, the interview took place by email at the request of the White House, who said that a personal or telephone interview is not possible "due to time". Not all questions were answered, mainly the critical ones by "coordination with other government organizations", the newspaper wrote. Other questions did receive a reply, but one that had little to nothing to do with the question asked.

For example, on the question of whether Trump would accept King Willem-Alexander's invitation to attend the commemoration of the Battle of the Schelde in Terneuzen later this year, Trump said that her father would be in Normandy on Thursday. "My father is always deeply honored to express our gratitude to our military heroes and the allies with whom we fought and bled side by side."

Wednesday's protest was organized by Sonia Sin and Julie Phillips, two Dutch citizens with an American background, in cooperation with Women's March NL, according to a statement sent to NL Times. It was scheduled to be held near the World Forum in The Hague between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday.