UPU looks to post-Congress era

14.10.2012 - The 25th Universal Postal Congress officially ended in Doha, Qatar, putting the Universal Postal Union and its member countries on a path to continue to modernize the postal sector so it remains an economic motor and a vehicle for social inclusion worldwide.

Member countries leave Doha with a solid roadmap, the Doha Postal Strategy, to guide the development of the postal sector at the international and regional levels over the next four years. Its goals will be achieved through programmes aimed at strengthening the postal sector’s three dimensions – physical, financial and electronic – through better interconnected networks and quality of service, innovation and responding more effectively to market changes, among other ambitions.

Calling the Doha Congress a success, UPU Director General Edouard Dayan noted with pride how the UPU has opened itself up to the international environment and formed valuable new partnerships.

“The perception that international organizations, donors and other partners have of the UPU and the postal sector has radically changed. Posts are attractive partners for the implementation of social, economic and environmental policies, and are recognized as an essential national infrastructure,” Dayan said.

Dayan noted that the ministerial conference was a key event at Congress. Many ministers, postal CEOs and other international stakeholders expressed their hopes for a rejuvenated postal sector and spoke about how it could help governments roll out their social and economic policies, bring populations closer to inclusive financial services and reduce poverty.

Dare to be innovative

As electronic substitution, increased competition and changing consumer behaviour remain constant, Congress urged governments to consider new opportunities for the well-established postal network and encouraged postal operators to diversify their business and not to rest on their laurels

Congress adopted proposals to help member countries and their Posts to expand international trade, using successful models such as Exporta Fácil, which is being successfully implemented in many Latin American countries, giving thousands of small and medium business greater access to markets abroad. With e-commerce delivering the promise of growth in the parcels business, Congress also adopted a proposal to create a new international parcels return service to help foster cross-border trade.

At the same time, Congress endorsed proposals to continue working on postal e-services and the .post project, the global postal sector’s top-level domain managed by the UPU. The .post platform is now available to member countries and their operators. The latter were invited during Congress to exploit the platform to expand and interconnect existing postal e-services in the international arena as well as create new ones. Posts have begun to register domain names carrying the .post extension and a new .post group is expected to be set up at the UPU to oversee the development and management of the top-level domain. The UPU is the first United Nations organization to obtain a sponsored top-level domain.

New leadership

Congress also elected the UPU’s new leadership for 2013-2016, selecting Kenya’s Bishar A. Hussein and Switzerland’s Pascal Clivaz to manage the UPU as director general and deputy director general respectively.

Congress also elected the 40 member countries that will make up the Council of Administration and the Postal Operations Council, the UPU’s official bodies that oversee the work of the Union between Congresses. Qatar will chair the CA, while Japan will chair the POC for the next four years.

Around 2,000 delegates attended Congress, which began on 24 September 2012. The new Council of Administration and Postal Operations Council are holding their constituent assemblies this afternoon and tomorrow.

The next Congress in 2016 will be held in Istanbul, Turkey.

Press release, Universal Postal Congress