[caption id="attachment_1224" align="alignright" width="283" caption="Dutch Princess Maxima (Courtesy: Wikipedia)"][/caption] Microfinance Focus, Sept. 23, 2009: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Dutch Princess Máxima as a special advocate on Inclusive Finance, which he said can spur poverty reduction. “Your extensive knowledge and expertise makes you a perfect choice for this important undertaking,” Mr. Ban said on Monday. “You will be able to work for the well-being of so many people who need our hands, who need your hands and who need the United Nations.” Inclusive finance, he pointed out, has a key role to play in making efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline. Princess Máxima was a member of the Advisors Group to the 2005 International Year of Microcredit and a year later she joined the UN Advisors Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors. She was a member of the Group’s Executive Committee and chaired its Working Group on Advocacy.