Queen Maxima in Bangladesh: November 16-18

As a special advocate of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for inclusive finance for development and on invitation of the Government, Her Majesty Queen Maxima paid a visit to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh from Monday November 16 until Wednesday November 18.

At the arrival at the airport in Dhaka, the Queen was welcomed by Mr. Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, Foreign Minister and Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank. Afterwards Queen Maxima went to the regional headquarter of the United Nation Development Program UNDP. The Queen, greeted by Robert Watkins, Resident Representative of UNDP, was briefed about the current status of financial access in Bangladesh.

Later the Queen had a meeting with Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairman of BRAC, a non-governmental development organization founded in 1972.

On Tuesday November 17, Queen Maxima was in the district of Gazipur City to visit a clothing factory. During the visit the Queen talked with business owners and employees and she was informed about loans, digital financial services, mobile banking. Upon her return in Dhaka, Queen Maxima attended a seminar titled “Building National Digital Financial Inclusion Strategy in Bangladesh” about national financial inclusion strategy at the Central Bangladesh Bank and had meeting with CEOs.

In the third and last day of the visit, on Wednesday November 18, the Queen had meetings with the President of Bangladesh, Abdul Hamid and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina. Then the Queen had a roundtable conference titled “Future of Banking Sector of Bangladesh”, organized by Association of Bankers Bangladesh.

Dutch Queen Maxima promises HPM #SheikhHasina help for achieving #Vision2021 targets … pic.twitter.com/sQxW1v4DBf pic.twitter.com/JA2xRq7N16

— Sufi Faruq (@sufifaruq) November 18, 2015

The last event of the visit was a press conference held by Queen Maxima along with the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Atiur Rahman. In her speech the Queen praised the progress that Bangladesh has made in the fields of financial inclusion but she said that there is still a long way to go like increasing access to financial services for the women. Queen Maxima also appreciated the efforts made by the Bangladesh Government to build a digital Bangladesh and she also added that financial services are changing lives in the country.

Dutch Queen Maxima visits Bangladesh – 3rd Day pic.twitter.com/Bu1Lqdozin

— Simo.R (@Like_aPrincess2) November 18, 2015

Queen Máxima was appointed in September 2009 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as his Special Advocate.

Filed under The Netherlands
Tagged Bangladesh, Inclusive Finance, Patronage, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, United Nations, Working Visit.