Queen Máxima of the Netherlands has been very busy in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum (WEF). She was in Switzerland from Tuesday evening through Thursday.
She is attending as part of her role at the United Nation’s Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development – a position she has held since being nominated by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2009.
Queen Máxima held “bilateral talks with government representatives from various countries, officials from central banks and representatives of fintech organisations and businesses,” according to the Royal House of the Netherlands.
These talks focused on the improvement of access to financial services.
Her Majesty also spoke to the Duke of Cambridge and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, the same day that she attended theMinding the gap breakfast meeting and met with the CEO Partnership for Inclusion. After the latter, a panel discussion was hosted by Queen Máxima and the CEO Partnership to “focus on multinationals’ role in making financial services more accessible and how this can help expand their market potential.”
The Royal House also explained, “Over the past ten years more than 1.2 billion adults have gained access to financial services, but 1.7 billion people still have to do without (Global Findex 2018). According to the World Bank Group and other experts, this limits their economic development.”
Thursday, she was present at a meeting of the Financial and Monetary Systems Stewardship Board. The WEF invited Her Majesty to be a member of the board in 2016.
The Queen, who is a regular attendee of the WEF, is not the only royal who has made an appearance at the WEF. Others in attendance have included the Duke of Cambridge, Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Märtha Louise of Norway, Princess Tessy of Luxembourg, Prince Albert of Monaco, Queen Rania of Jordan, and the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan.
