The Hague: Her Majesty Queen Máxima will visit Pakistan from Monday 25 to Wednesday 27 November as special advocate of the UN Secretary-General for Inclusive Financing for Development (UNSGSA). It discusses the progress of access to financial services to improve the economic position of the country’s inhabitants.
Queen Máxima visits Pakistan at the invitation of the government. It is a follow-up to the UN visit in February 2016. Queen Máxima focuses, among other things, on the importance of financial services for women. Only 7% of them have a bank account. Gender-based data collection is needed to understand their specific access and use needs. Another way to connect more people is to digitize government payments such as social benefits. In addition, “fintech” offers great possibilities for simple banking, for example via a mobile phone. To be able to do this safely and efficiently, changes to regulations are also needed to ensure privacy, among other things. About 21% of adults in Pakistan now have a bank account, in 2014 this was 13% (Global Findex). Despite this increase, 99 million Pakistani still do not have access to financial services such as a bank or savings account, insurance, loans, pensions or digital payment methods. This limits their chances of development. This particularly concerns people in poverty situations, women, small businesses and people in remote agricultural areas.
Queen Máxima has talks in Islamabad with, among others, international development partners, representatives from the fintech sector, Governor Reza Baqir of the State Bank of Pakistan, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, finance adviser to the Prime Minister and Usman Mubin, chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). Talks are also planned with President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Queen Máxima is also present at the launch of the “Micropayments Gateway”. This is a central bank initiative to reduce the cost of small payments in order to stimulate digital payments, in particular for people in poverty situations. In addition, she pays a field visit to a project developed within the CEO Partnership for Economic Inclusion (CEOP). CEOP is an informal partnership of ten international companies from different sectors to improve access to financial services and increase market potential. They met for the first time in January 2018 at the invitation of Queen Máxima at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In Lahore, Queen Máxima visits a number of projects that focus on digital financial services that, among other things, contribute to the development of entrepreneurs.
Since 2009, Queen Máxima, as a UN special advocate, has been committed to making financial services accessible to all, including low-income groups and small and medium-sized businesses, and thus increasing their chances of economic and social development.
