UPU News:- Côte d’Ivoire to chair UPU’s 2015 Strategy Conference

Côte d’Ivoire will chair the Universal Postal Union’s Strategy Conference, which will now take place on 13-14 April 2015 in Switzerland.

The UPU’s Council of Administration (CA), in session at UPU headquarters, decided last Thursday, 13 November, to give the chairmanship of the organization’s international meeting to Côte d’Ivoire.

In September, the UPU and Côte d’Ivoire had announced the cancellation of the Strategy Conference initially scheduled to take place in Abidjan on 14-15 October 2014 as a result of the prevailing health situation in the region, linked to the Ebola epidemic in neighbouring countries, and the low levels of registrations for the conference.

At the same time, in recognition of the Côte d’Ivoire’s commitment to the Union, the CA also asked Côte d’Ivoire to co-chair the high-level ministerial conference that will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, during the Universal Postal Congress in 2016.

Committed to UPU promotion

“Be assured that Côte d’Ivoire, which has reclaimed its place in the concert of nations, remains at the UPU’s disposal and wishes to work with all member countries to ensure the promotion of our common institution,” said Bruno Koné, minister of posts and telecommunications. “We are delighted with the honorable solutions proposed and we will gladly preside over the UPU’s Strategy Conference in Switzerland and its ministerial conference in Istanbul in 2016.”

The aim of the UPU Strategy Conference is to take stock of the progress achieved with the current world postal strategy and define the elements that will be included in the next strategy, to be presented to UPU member countries during the Istanbul Congress. UPU member countries adopted the Doha Postal Strategy – the global postal sector’s four-year roadmap – at the 2012 Congress.

During his presentation to the Council of Administration, the Ivorian minister also announced that Côte d’Ivoire would increase its contribution to the Union’s budget to three units of contribution from one. The UPU budget is based on the contributions of its 192 member countries, which choose the number of units of contribution they wish to pay.