1. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Kim Dong-yeon attended the ceremony held in Washington DC, on October 14, local time, to mark the World Bank-hosted inaugural meeting of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) Governing Committee. At the event, the Deputy Prime Minister expressed the Republic of Korea’s firm commitment to contribute actively as a new donor country to the international efforts toward gender equality.

2. We-Fi is a fund that the G20 leaders, at their meeting in Hamburg, Germany, in July 2017, decided to create with the aim to render support to women entrepreneurs in developing countries. The ROK will donate 10 million US dollars to We-Fi and join its Governing Committee.

3. The ceremony brought together Deputy Prime Minister Kim, President Kim Yong of the World Bank Group, advisor to the US President Ivanka Trump, US Secretary of the Treasury Mnuchin, Australian Treasurer Morrison and finance ministers of other major donor countries, who expressed willingness to make robust efforts to resolve such shared international challenges as offering women more opportunities to take part in economic activities and achieving gender equality.

4. At its first meeting in Washington DC on October 11, local time, the We-Fi Governing Committee adopted a basic document regarding the We-Fi operations, including its operational structure and regulations, laying the tangible groundwork for all-out We-Fi operations.

° Among the attendees at the Governing Committee meeting were the ROK Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Director-General for Development Cooperation and delegates from other donor countries as well as the World Bank.


* unofficial translation