From Monday 24 November to Friday 28 November, Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands will visit China in her capacity as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). China is taking various measures to improve access to financial services in order to provide greater opportunities for low-income individuals and small-scale farms and businesses.
The UNSGSA is visiting China at the invitation of the Chinese government. The UN believes the country’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), and the national banking regulator, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), can play a key role in improving Chinese access to financial services. The PBOC is developing a national plan for inclusive finance.
The Special Advocate’s agenda will include meetings with Chinese President Xi Jingping, PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, representatives of the CBRC, and various financial institutions. The Queen will also deliver a speech to students at Peking University’s National School of Development and will visit farming and financing projects for small- and medium-sized enterprises near the capital. In addition, she will also meet representatives of Chinese Internet businesses to see how they can help improve people’s access to financial services.
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Queen Máxima was appointed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA) in 2009. In this capacity, she advises the Secretary-General and works worldwide to make financial services accessible to all, including low-income households and small businesses. The Queen has been honorary chair of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion since 2011.