Deliver on the President's Entrepreneurship Summit Goal of Building Bridges to the Middle East and North Africa
- The U.S. continues to support the OECD Middle East and North Africa Initiative, which works to enhance the investment climate, modernize governance structures, strengthen regional and international partnerships, and promote sustainable economic growth.
- May 2010: Ambassador Kornbluh assumes co-chairmanship of the OECD -Middle East and North Africa Women's Business Forum, which promotes women's economic entrepreneurship in the MENA region. The U.S. makes a voluntary contribution of $1 million for MENA activities includes an earmark to support women's economic empowerment in the region, thereby advancing a key commitment of President Obama at the Entrepreneurship Summit in April 2010.
- June 2010: The OECD-MENA WBF embarks on a stock-taking of the barriers to success for women-owned businesses and begins to inventory existing policies, institutions and programs in the region. Going forward, WBF members will work with their respective governments to overcome these barriers to greater prosperity for all.
- The Obama administration extends to the rest of the world a key focus of the president's domestic economic agenda: opportunities for women. The President's Summit on Entrepreneurship, the Middle East Partnership Initiative, and the U.S. Government's support for the WBF demonstrate U.S. commitment to the economic advancement of the region.