At UN, Special Advocate Joining Summit to Ring in New Global Development Agenda

The Global Goals For Sustainable Development

The new Sustainable Development Goals, adopted at the UN on 25 September 2015, reflect the growing recognition of financial inclusion as a key enabler of development progress.

Role of financial inclusion widely recognized in Sustainable Development Goals

World leaders gathered at the UN in New York starting today for a landmark summit to adopt the new Sustainable Development Agenda, which will guide priorities, policies, funding, and action through 2030.

The 2030 agenda—including the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the Global Goals—reflects the growing recognition of financial inclusion as a powerful enabler of development progress. As the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance, Queen Máxima has been an influential voice in discussions leading up to the adoption of the goals and the related track on financing for development. On Sunday 27 September she will participate in the UN Sustainable Development Summit by addressing financial inclusion during one of six interactive dialogues, Protecting Our Planet and Combatting Climate Change.

The new Sustainable Development Goals will succeed the Millennium Development Goals, which were established in 2000 and have been widely recognized for mobilizing global action against poverty and disease. Together with partners in and outside the UN, the Special Advocate has worked to ensure that financial inclusion is reflected in many of the new goals—not as an end itself but as a necessary foundation for their achievement. Of the 17 Global Goals, language on financial inclusion appears in the targets or means of implementation for seven of them, including key goals such as ending poverty and hunger, achieving gender equality, supporting economic growth, and reducing inequality.

In addition to her appearance during the Sustainable Development Summit, Queen Máxima will attend the opening the UN General Assembly’s 70th session on Monday 28 September as part of the delegation from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. King Willem-Alexander is leader of this delegation and will address the General Assembly during the opening of the General Debate.

On Tuesday 29 September, the Special Advocate will present the sixth UNSGSA annual report to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon detailing her activities during the past year. Later that day she will also deliver a keynote speech at a side event on youth entrepreneurship and sustainable development. Over the course of her visit to the UN she will also meet with a wide range of leaders from national governments, business, and civil society to advance issues related to financial inclusion.