Queen Máxima to attend World Economic Forum in Davos
From the afternoon of Tuesday 16 January to Thursday 18 January, Her Majesty Queen Máxima will attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in her capacity as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). The theme of this year’s edition is Rebuilding Trust.
Queen Máxima will hold bilateral talks with government representatives from various countries and representatives from the business community and international development organisations to discuss progress on promoting digital financial services. Her visit will focus on the importance of digital financial services and digital inclusion in giving people – particularly those in disadvantaged positions – better opportunities for economic development and financial health. The main target groups are people on low incomes, women, small business owners and smallholder farmers.
This year is Queen Máxima’s 15th year as UNSGSA. According to the Global Findex Database 2021, 76% of adults worldwide now have a bank account, either traditional or digital. People with an online bank account no longer have to spend days travelling to the closest bank or hours queueing to receive their salary or pay bills. A bank account also allows the holder to establish a financial record, making other financial services such as insurance and loans more accessible to them.
On Wednesday 17 January, Queen Máxima and Mastercard will host the Financial Health: Key to empowerment and sustainable development lunch meeting. Financial products and services that are tailored to users’ needs can contribute to financial health. Examples of this include automatically saving a small amount in order to build up a buffer, customised insurance and affordable loans to invest in a business or education.
On Thursday 18 January, Queen Máxima will speak at the WEF event Comparing notes on Financial Inclusion. Here, too, the focus will be on tailor-made financial services that enable people to protect themselves against financial setbacks and to build a future. Fintech is making more and more innovations possible.
In her capacity as UNSGSA Queen Máxima is a member of the Stewardship Board of the World Economic Forum System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Financial and Monetary Systems. Since 2016, she has also been a member of the Edison Alliance, an initiative launched by the WEF to advance digital inclusion in relation to healthcare, financial services and education.
Government Information Service, no. 8