Her Majesty Queen Máxima, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health (UNSGSA), will be speaking at the opening of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on 5 June in Riga, the Republic of Latvia. Prior to the meeting, she will pay a courtesy visit to Latvian president Edgars Rinkēvičs.
The EBRD is a multilateral development bank owned by 77 countries from five continents, together with the European Union and the European Investment Bank. Its aim is to help emerging countries grow their market economies. During the opening session, Queen Máxima will join Secretary General Milica Delević in a fireside chat about the added value of embedding the theme of financial health in the bank’s objectives.
The EBRD works with the financial sector to provide project funding for state-owned and private enterprises. Businesses headed by young and/or women entrepreneurs regularly encounter difficulties when applying for funding. The same applies to businesses active in regions affected by natural disasters and conflicts. Queen Máxima champions forms of finance that meet the needs of entrepreneurs, allowing them to invest in short- and long-term goals that will improve their quality of life and financial health.
She will hold a number of bilateral talks in the margins of the plenary meeting, including with EBRD president Odile Renaud-Basso.
Queen Máxima promotes the cause of financial health in the Netherlands as honorary chair of the Netherlands Financial Health Foundation (SFGN) and the Money Wise Platform.
Government Information Service, no. 160