Promoting postal network interconnection and development to combat exclusion at heart of UPU Strategy Conference

At the end of the conference, attended by more than 700 delegates from almost 140 countries, the UPU Director General said he was confident that the conference had served to broaden the outlook of the postal world and had provided a clearer picture of its future role.

"The postal world of tomorrow is already being built today," he said, and the numerous social and technological challenges would need to be addressed by the UPU and included in the next World Postal Strategy, to be adopted at the 2008 Universal Postal Congress in Nairobi. "Our response must be based on two key factors that have emerged from this conference: interconnection and development," he added.

Edouard Dayan underlined the quality and scope of the discussions and interventions. These focused in particular on the importance of postal sector reform and regulation, the role of the sector as a gateway to new technologies and a facilitator of electronic communications, the ability of the Post to provide electronic fund transfer services, particularly for migrant workers, the essential importance of standards in harmonizing exchanges of international messages in all forms, and the role of postal services as a tool for combating economic and social inequality through a development cooperation policy that took account of the actual needs of countries, especially the least developed ones.

The conference brought together players from the world postal sector, including public postal operators and governments, but in particular private sector players and international organizations. The Director General of the United Nations Office in Geneva and the Directors General of the International Organization for Migration and the International Organization for Standardization were among those attending. The Director General of the World Trade Organization was the keynote speaker.

Referring to the actions already carried out by the UPU to interconnect the world postal network and promote development, Dayan said "the discussions that have taken place have shown us to be on the right track".

Through postal services, countries and the world community at large have access to a unique tool for closing the digital divide, "a true gateway to new technologies and facilitator of electronic communications," as Dayan put it. He also referred to the UPU's progress in the area of identifying and ensuring the security of electronic messages through the adoption of the digital postmark, and the development of a worldwide standard in this area.

He said that standardization was a key factor in interconnectivity, and was increasingly important in the context of internationalization, adding that "it promotes innovation and reduces costs".

Summing up, Dayan said all stakeholders of the postal sector had to be taken into consideration: governments, Posts, private sector players, international organizations, industry partners, customers, workers and investors. "If we do not share a global strategic vision, we will be overlooking many of the realities of our sector."

The conference Chairman, Abdulla Al Daboos, Director General of Emirates Post, said "it has been a highly gratifying experience for the UAE and Emirates Post to host this huge gathering of postal experts and decision-makers. The level and quality of the speakers were very high. We are confident that the ideas and solutions presented will provide significant input for formulating the next World Postal Strategy at the Nairobi Congress in 2008."