Queen Máxima participates online in panel at World Economic Forum (DA21)
As the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA), Her Majesty Queen Máxima is taking part online today, Monday 25 January, in a panel discussion as part of the event ‘Resetting Digital Currencies’ at the World Economic Forum (WEF: Davos Agenda 2021). Davos Agenda 2021 is a digital summit supplementing the WEF’s annual gathering in Davos, which due to the COVID-19 epidemic has been postponed until late May and will be held in Singapore. Davos Agenda 2021 has the theme ‘A Crucial Year to Rebuild Trust’, and is being held from Monday 25 January to Friday 29 January.
Queen Máxima is joining the governor of the Bank of England, the CEO of Western Union and the chairman of the investment advisory firm North Island and North Island Ventures on a panel to discuss the shift from physical and digital currencies. Her Majesty will, as UNSGSA, discuss the contribution that new digital forms of money can make towards enhancing access to and the safe use of financial services. During the digital summit Queen Máxima will also take part in an invitation-only virtual meeting of the online payment system PayPal.
In the autumn of 2020 Queen Máxima became a member of the steering committee of the WEF’s Digital Currency Governance Consortium. The steering committee brings together decision-makers from the private and public sectors to study the opportunities and risks involved in global digital currencies, find common solutions to obstacles to these currencies’ introduction, and create efficient markets. Queen Máxima was invited to join the steering committee because of her experience with inclusive finance, to increase opportunities for economic and social development for poor people in particular.