On the morning of November 26, 2014, Her Majesty Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti,Queen of Netherlands and United Nations Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA)visited Peking University(“PKU”). During this period, she met with the leaders of PKU, leaders of the National School of Development (“NSD”), Peking University and students of PKU in Langrun Garden.
At 9:30 am, Queen Máxima’s entourage arrived at Langrun Garden and spoke with the leaders of PKU - Prof. Lin Yifu, Honorary President of the NSD and Prof. Yao Yang, Dean of NSD in the Zhifuxuan meeting room of the NSD. During the talk, Mr. Lin Yifu introduced the background and development prospects of the NSD and presented books as a gift to Queen Máxima.
At 10 am, Queen Máxima made a speech to PKU students on the 2nd floor of Wanzhong Building in NSD.
Professor Yao Yang, Dean of the NSD delivered his speech. On behalf of the NSD, he welcomed Queen Máxima and praised her outstanding contribution to Inclusive Finance at the United Nations. He mentioned that Queen Máxima was designated United Nations Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA) in September, 2009 and, since June 2011; she has been the Honorary Patron of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) since June 2011. During this period, Queen Máxima offered advice and suggestions to the Secretary General of the United Nations, made speeches worldwide, advocated the development of inclusive finance and has made a great achievement in this field.
As UNSGSA, Queen Máxima made a speech on Global Development of Inclusive Finance. Queen Máxima point out that China and the Netherlands have a long history of financial innovation. Indeed, China was the first country to invent paper currency. She stressed the social significance of inclusive finance. The availability of financial services is especially important in poverty reduction and in helping small and medium-sized enterprises. Queen Máxima follows the development of China with great interest and from time to time, companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, China Mobile appeared in her speech. She said that China is taking various effective measures to improve the availability of financial services, and in areas such as economic development and poverty reduction has made great progress, but there is a lot of work to do. To that end, she encouraged young people to actively participate in the development of Inclusive Financial and to contribute to national development, because "the future belongs to you, the young generation".
After her speech, Queen Máxima answered the students’ questions. Issues such as the United Nations inclusive financial measures, the "Bangladesh financial model" for developing countries and the experience of developed countries in financial development were raised.
