The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is a specialised agency of the United Nations. Created in 1874, it is the third oldest existing international organization. The aim of the agency is to secure the organisation and improvement of global postal services and to promote the development of international collaboration in the postal sector. The UPU is founded upon the principle of a single postal territory amongst its member countries, where freedom of transit for postal items is guaranteed.
The 25th Universal Postal Congress
Officials from the MCA are currently representing Government in the 25th Universal Postal Congress organised by the Universal Postal Union. Held every four years, the Congress of the UPU is the supreme authority of the Union and is composed of the representatives of the countries of the United Nations. The Congress is the forum where amendments to the UPU Constitution, Convention and regulations are made. Being a diplomatic Act, any changes to the Constitution of the UPU are subject to ratification by Governments.
The Congress also elects the UPU's Director General, the Deputy Director General, as well as the members of the Council of Administration and Postal Operations Council. This forum also sets the budget ceiling for the following four years.
The 25th Universal Postal Congress officially opened on the 24 September 2012 in Doha, Qatar, marking the beginning of the three-week meeting which gathers postal leaders and stakeholders from the Universal Postal Union’s 192 member countries to decide on the global postal sector’s future. As the local universal service provider, MaltaPost plc is also participating in these meetings.
During the meeting, more than 2,200 registered delegates will be examining many proposals to modify the rules and regulations governing the exchange of international mail as well as major documents recommending the way forward in areas such as postal financial services, quality of service, postal security, eCommerce and trade facilitation.
Held under the theme “New world, new strategy”, the Congress hopes to adopt the Doha Postal Strategy, the UPU’s strategic document for the future. This strategy underlines the postal network’s three dimensions – physical, electronic and financial – as well as interconnection, governance and development as key axes to strengthen postal services worldwide.
Some of the major accomplishments of past Congresses include the creation of new products, which have revolutionized the role of postal services, such as registered letters, postal money orders and international reply coupons. These have been integrated into the international postal network and are available to the majority of the world's population.
World Postal Day
The UPU also used the same theme for this years’ ‘World Postal Day’, which is celebrated worldwide, every 9th October to coincide with the anniversary of the establishment of the UPU. The purpose of World Post Day is to create awareness of the role of the postal sector in people’s and businesses’ everyday lives and its contribution to the social and economic development of countries.
In the words of the UPU Director General, Edouard DAYAN, ‘As strong drivers of economic growth, Posts must continue to innovate, develop efficient and accessible postal services, adopt common standards and exploit new technologies to diversify and improve services.’
‘Traditional letter-post services still account for the majority of postal revenues but Posts can benefit from the globalization of mail exchanges in other ways. They should seize the opportunities offered by e-commerce. Many Posts are wisely readying their operations for the e-commerce boom, which has resulted in increased parcel volumes. And rightly so; industry-watchers predict that e-commerce sales will surpass the trillion-euro mark in 2013. Many of the goods ordered online will be delivered as parcels to customers and who better than the Post to fill that role?’
