Máxima and Mathilde side by side at the UN General Assembly
Photo: The Royal House of the Netherlands
Queen Máxima and Queen Mathilde sat side by side as the 81st UN General Assembly opened in New York. Máxima is the UN Special Advocate for Financial Health, while Mathilde advocates for the Sustainable Development Goals.
Queen Máxima of the Netherlands and Queen Mathilde of Belgium sat side by side as the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly opened at UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday. Both are in the city in their respective UN roles.
Queen Mathilde, left, and Queen Máxima, right, at the opening of the 81st General Assembly. Photo: The Royal House of the Netherlands
The high-level week of the General Assembly carries the theme «Restoring trust, steering the transformation: the United Nations delivering results for everyone».
The two queens followed the opening session with interpretation headsets. Photo: The Royal House of the Netherlands
• Máxima works on financial health
Queen Máxima is the UN Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Financial Health, a role she has held since 2009, at the time with the emphasis on inclusive finance. Financial health is about people having safe access to a bank account, savings, insurance, loans and a pension, and being able to use those services to manage their money and withstand unexpected costs.
Queen Máxima on her way to one of the events in New York. Photo: The Royal House of the Netherlands
She is in New York from 21 to 24 September. On Tuesday she presented her annual report to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Later in the day she joined a working lunch with the Group of Friends for Financial Health, a group of member states chaired by the Philippines, Peru and Kenya, and a round table with the Financial Health Leadership Coalition for the Americas.
The evening before the opening, the Queen attended the 50-in-5 Awards, which recognise individuals and countries that have made progress on digital public infrastructure.
Queen Máxima in New York the evening before the General Assembly opened. Photo: The Royal House of the Netherlands
On Wednesday a conversation with Wall Street Journal editor Almar Latour is on the programme, on what financial institutions themselves can do. On Thursday she takes part in an event with the International Labour Organization on the role of the workplace, and meets her reference group.
• Mathilde advocates for the Sustainable Development Goals
Queen Mathilde is a UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocate and was in New York from 20 to 23 September. She met both Guterres and Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, as well as UNDP head Alexander De Croo and the UN's emergency relief coordinator, Tom Fletcher.
Queen Mathilde arriving at the UN building. Photo: The Royal House of the Netherlands
The Queen at UN headquarters in New York. Photo: The Royal House of the Netherlands
At an event on humanitarian diplomacy the Queen spoke up for the protection of human life and human dignity. She pointed out that more than 117 million people are living with the consequences of armed conflict.
Queen Mathilde between events in New York. Photo: The Royal House of the Netherlands
Mathilde also spoke about the role of women in peace and security, noting that peace agreements are 35 per cent more likely to hold when women take a full part in drawing them up and carrying them out.
• At the 11 September memorial
During her stay Queen Mathilde visited the memorial to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, twenty-five years on.