Queen Máxima to attend World Economic Forum in Davos
Her Majesty Queen Máxima will be attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 May. She will do so in her capacity as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA).
Queen Máxima will be holding bilateral talks with representatives from various countries’ governments, the private sector and international development organisations. She will also participate in a number of plenary sessions. The main topic addressed by these discussions will be the role of digital financial services in promoting financial health and increased economic opportunities. The coronavirus pandemic has shown how important it is for people to have digital access to financial services. Other subjects on the agenda are inclusive fintech and inclusive green finance.
On Tuesday 24 May Queen Maxima will deliver remarks at the event ‘Financial Inclusion: Addressing the Largest Gaps’, discussing the requirements for delivering full financial inclusion and the innovations that can help deal with this challenge. Some 1.7 billion adults worldwide do not yet have bank or savings accounts, insurance policies, loans or pensions or use digital payment methods. Those concerned are mainly people on low incomes, women, small business owners and smallholder farmers (Global Findex 2017). At ‘Rules of the Road for the Digital Economy’, a meeting organised by Mastercard, Queen Máxima will address the risks of algorithm biases. At the EDISON Alliance event ‘Unlocking Capital at Scale for Digital Inclusion’ she will discuss using private sector capital to promote investment in the digital economy.
On Wednesday 25 May Queen Máxima will host a meeting with the CEO Partnership for Economic Inclusion. This informal group of global companies works together to develop projects to contribute to improving financial services for their customers, many of whom are small businesses. At the IDH - The Sustainable Trade Initiative roundtable event, Queen Máxima will speak about the role of agricultural companies in delivering financial services that meet the needs of smallholder farmers and contribute to their financial resilience, with the ultimate goal of generating a living income.
As UNSGSA, Queen Máxima is a member of the Stewardship Board of the World Economic Forum (WEF) System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Financial and Monetary Systems and of the Steering Committee of the WEF’s Digital Currency Governance Consortium. Since 2021 Her Majesty has also been a member of the EDISON Alliance, a WEF initiative aimed at fostering digital inclusion in areas such as healthcare, financial services and education.
Government Information Service, no. 154