In a statement issued by the Pakistan Foreign Office, Her Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands will visit Pakistan from November 25-27, 2019, in her capacity as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate (UNSGSA) for Inclusive Finance for Development.
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands (born 17 May 1971) is the spouse of King Willem-Alexander. On 30 April 2013, she became the first queen companion of the Netherlands since Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont (queen consort from 1879 to 1890) and the first Latin American-born queen companion in the history of the Netherlands.
Following the footsteps of British Royal couple Kate Middleton and Prince William’s highly successful tour of Pakistan, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands will be the next to visit the Pakistan.
During the visit, Her Majesty Queen Máxima will call on the President Arif Alvi and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, besides engagements with a range of stakeholders from the public and private sectors.
The queen will hold talks with international development partners, representatives of the fintech sector, State Bank Governor Reza Baqir, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and NADRA Chairman Usman Mubin.
In Lahore, the Queen Maxima will look in on a number of projects that focus on digital financial services that, among other things, contribute to the development of entrepreneurs.
Her Majesty Queen Máxima will also attend the launch of the Micro Payment Gateway, an initiative of the State Bank of Pakistan aimed at reducing the costs of small payments and boosting digital transactions to benefit people and promote financial inclusion.
Inclusive Finance for Development is one of the key priorities of the Government. Pakistan has taken a number of steps in recent years in order to promote the key objectives of financial inclusion.
Queen Máxima has been the UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate (UNSGSA) for Inclusive Finance for Development since 2009. In this capacity, she is actively engaged worldwide in promoting access of individuals and enterprises to financial services at a reasonable cost, with the aim of improving economic and social development opportunities.
Queen Máxima had earlier visited Pakistan in February, 2016.
