
Queen Máxima of the Netherlands paid a 5-day visit to the People's Republic of China, in her capacity as the UN's Secretary-General's Special envoy on inclusive finance for development. The queen, who earlier this year also visited Colombia, Peru and India, had a hectic schedule. She visited the governor of the People's Bank of China - the central bank - and was hosted by First Lady Peng Liyuan at the State Guest House.

The queen, obviously still concerned about the health of her father Jorge Zorreguieta in Argentina, held meetings with representatives of commercial banks, telecom companies and internet giant Alibaba. She travelled to Hangzhou to meet with Jack Ma on the campus of his company, which can help to make financial services accessable to all Chinese; 400 million people are still without such basic services.

Queen Máxima visited two rural communities on the outskirts of Beijing, where she met clients of various financial services and saw how development can be aided by access - be it to transfer money, savings or insurance. "People can be successful, but then when they get sick they loose all their savings and livelyhood to pay for the doctor's bills and are back at point zero", the queen said about the need for insurance.

Máxima also learned how to knead noodles, and experienced Beijing's infamous smog and traffic congestion. In the village of Anyang the sheep farmer she was to meet all of a sudden only had goats: the local authorities didn't want her to see the poor housing of the farmer and made a last minute change of venue. "So they are not your animals?" the queen asked the farmer at the central animal shed of the village. No.
The Chinese offered an excuse: maybe there was a misunderstanding about the kind of animals. The Chinese word for sheep and goat being the same. The queen however was not fooled. She had read her notes. © Royalblog, Hans Jacobs; Photo: © RB & UNDP China/联合国开发计划署
Video with Queen in China, English spoken too
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