Melania Trump is to make her first big solo overseas tour as First Lady, embarking on a trip to Africa in October.
She is “excited” about educating herself on the issues facing children throughout the continent”, said Grisham.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In addition, Trump said she would seek to highlight the “successful humanitarian work and development programmes” being implemented in the countries she visits.
Grisham didn’t say which African countries the First Lady would visit, nor did she reveal the exact dates for her trip.
Melania Trump has often accompanied the President on foreign trips, including a week-long swing through Europe last month, but “has travelled on her own largely domestically since the inauguration”, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The choice of location may be surprising considering Africa is a “continent whose countries and citizens her husband has disparaged with coarse language”, says The New York Times.
Grisham said the First Lady chose Africa after she learned about some of the development programmes that are under way in many countries, especially in children's health and education.
“We are a global society, and I believe it is through open dialogue and the exchanging of ideas that we have a real opportunity to learn from one another,” her statement said.
Trump's only other solo international trip was last September, when she flew to Toronto for a day and joined Prince Harry to open the Invictus Games.
-
The ‘ravenous’ demand for Cornish mineralsUnder the Radar Growing need for critical minerals to power tech has intensified ‘appetite’ for lithium, which could be a ‘huge boon’ for local economy
-
Why are election experts taking Trump’s midterm threats seriously?IN THE SPOTLIGHT As the president muses about polling place deployments and a centralized electoral system aimed at one-party control, lawmakers are taking this administration at its word
-
‘Restaurateurs have become millionaires’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Will increasing tensions with Iran boil over into war?Today’s Big Question President Donald Trump has recently been threatening the country
-
Corruption: The spy sheikh and the presidentFeature Trump is at the center of another scandal
-
Rubio boosts Orbán ahead of Hungary electionSpeed Read Far-right nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is facing a tough re-election fight after many years in power
-
Greenland’s capital becomes ground zero for the country’s diplomatic straitsIN THE SPOTLIGHT A flurry of new consular activity in Nuuk shows how important Greenland has become to Europeans’ anxiety about American imperialism
-
Epstein files topple law CEO, roil UK governmentSpeed Read Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, is caught up in the scandal
-
Iran and US prepare to meet after skirmishesSpeed Read The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East
-
Which way will Trump go on Iran?Today’s Big Question Diplomatic talks set to be held in Turkey on Friday, but failure to reach an agreement could have ‘terrible’ global ramifications
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
