UPU News: - World Post Day 2012: Governments must help Posts fulfil their potential as motors of national economy

Posts worldwide are celebrating World Post Day today, as the Universal Postal Union holds its 25th Universal Postal Congress in Doha, Qatar.

In his annual message, UPU Director General Edouard Dayan says postal services are not standing idly on the sidelines as they evolve and play their role in an era of new information and communication technologies, mobile telephones and the Internet. “Posts are an integral part of the increasingly digital world.”

On the heels of a major ministerial conference with some 60 ministers in attendance, Dayan urges Posts to continue to innovate, develop efficient and accessible postal services, adopt common standards and exploit new technologies to diversify and improve services.

Adopting the right strategies to adapt to a new world is a central theme at the Doha Congress, where more than 2,200 delegates are gathered to discuss the future of the postal sector, adopt the organization’s work programme for the next four years and refine the rules for international mail exchanges among the UPU’s 192 member countries.

Dayan also urges governments to step up to the mark and ensure their essential support for the postal sector. “With it, Posts across the globe will fulfil their potential as motors of national economies,” he says.

The 25th Congress has already approved major proposals on the UPU’s future activities, especially in the areas of trade facilitation, financial services and financial inclusion, and postal e-services.

The latest 2011 UPU statistics point to a continuation of clear trends in the global postal sector, including a decline of letter-post volumes, the growth of parcels as e-commerce evolves and Posts progressively enter the logistics industry, and the continuing growth of postal financial services, which increasingly generate a greater share of postal revenues.

Letter-post still accounts for 48% of global postal revenues of 304 billion USD, but in some countries postal financial services account for more than 50% of the revenues.

.post now available

While postal e-services still contribute modestly to revenues, Posts are making strides in adapting to new realities or intend to progressively develop postal e-services, while maintaining the efficiency of their traditional services.

Yesterday, the UPU announced that the .post platform was available to the UPU’s member countries for exploitation. The platform rests on the sponsored top-level domain given to the organization in 2009 to be managed on behalf of the international postal community.

It is intended to replicate in the electronic world the same conditions the UPU created in the physical world for the global exchange of electronic mail items on a secure and reliable single territory, which also brands legitimate postal services on the Internet.

As Posts mark World Post Day on 9 October, on the sidelines of Congress, the winner of the UPU’s 2012 International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People, Marios Chatzidimou from Greece, will receive his gold medal during a special ceremony.

World Post Day is celebrated annually on 9 October. It marks the creation of the Universal Postal Union on 9 October 1874, during the first Congress held in Berne, Switzerland.

Universal Postal Congress, Congress