JULY 1 — During her meeting with President Benigno S. Aquino III on Tuesday, Her Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands commended the Philippines’ efforts in making financial services more accessible to all Filipinos.
The Queen, who is also the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, paid a courtesy call on President Aquino in Malacañang as part of her three-day official visit to the country to promote financial inclusion.
“Queen Maxima commended the Philippines’ efforts on financial inclusion and highlighted that the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI), an inter-agency program spearheaded by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that would be launched tomorrow, Wednesday, July 1, is a good step towards enabling Filipinos to have access to financial services,” Communication Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said in a statement.
For his part, President Aquino reiterated the Philippines’ commitment to ensure financial inclusion among all Filipinos and shared the country’s examples of projects, such as the Convergence on Value Chain-Enhancement for Rural Growth and Empowerment (ConVERGE) and the Fisheries, Coastal Resources and Livelihood (FishCORAL) that includes farmers’ and fishermen’s access to financial services and the banking sector, as well as the Conditional Cash Transfer Program that enhances financial inclusion among its beneficiaries, through the use of mobile phones.
While in the country, Queen Maxima will meet with leaders from the public and private sectors and give a speech at the launch of the NSFI, which aims to enhance cooperation among ministries, government agencies, and the private sector to improve the population’s access to financial services.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco, Jr. has announced that after the NSFI launch on Wednesday, the NSFI committee would draft an Action Plan on Financial Inclusion, which will be presented to the President in two to three months.
Joining President Aquino during the courtesy call were Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario, Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, and senior officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Finance, and the BSP.
Queen Maxima was designated in 2009 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as his Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. PND (co)