World Post Day celebrated with a call to support green environment in postal operations

The celebrations were held in association with the Ministry of Education and the Writers' Association, attended by supervisors and students from participating schools in the UAE. The World Post Day is celebrated globally each year on October 9.

Mr. Ibrahim Bin Karam, CEO of Emirates Post, and Sheikha Al Shamsi, Director, Licensing & Accreditation, Ministry of Education, gave away prizes and certificates to winners and school supervisors.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Bin Karam, said:

"The World Post Day is a major event on the annual postal calendar. The UPU has played a pivotal role in international postal affairs, formulating laws to ensure streamlined postal operations and fostering financial and cultural links between member countries. On this occasion, we would like to reaffirm our commitment to the community by committing ourselves to a greener environment as part of this year's theme."

Mr. Salem Al Shaya, Assistant Director General, Operations, Emirates Post, read out the World Post Day message of Mr. Edouard Dayan, Director General of UPU, who spoke about the UPU's new initiative to measure the world postal sector's carbon footprint and present the results of this research at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.

"In this time of financial crisis, sound management of environmental issues can be a significant driving force for growth. In taking up the challenge of green growth, businesses can rethink their logistics chain processes, improve their efficiency, plan long-term energy saving measures, develop new products and services that are less harmful to the environment and project a responsible business image," stated Dayan in his message.

The function concluded with distribution of prizes and certificates to the winners and participants of the annual UPU International Letter Writing Competition for Young People.
The letter written by Maha Al Nuaimi, a student of Al Ma'ali School, Al Ain, was selected for the top prize and sent for the international level competition as the UAE entry.

The other winners from Arabic schools were Shamsa Al Shaghal (Oden School, Ras Al Khaimah), Nada Ali (Al Dhafra School, Al Ain), Mohammed Khalid (Al Rowai, Abu Dhabi), Amal Mohammed (Moroom School, Ras Al Khaimah(, Asra Al Hamli (Al Khamael School, Abu Dhabi), Aknan Osama (Khadija School, Ajman), Yaman Sameer (Abu Ayub Al Ansari School, Sharjah), Fatma Al Shahumi (Dubai International School) and Maitha Al Nuaimi (Al Ma'ali School, Al Ain).

From the English schools, the winners were Maroosh Ebad (Al Nahda Girls' School, Abu Dhabi), Mariam Jamshid (Dubai National School, Al Barsha) and Sarah Mohammed Abdullah (Al Nahda National School, Abu Dhabi).

The world postal sector delivers 430bn letters and 6bn parcels each year, and operates 600,000 postal establishments and as many vehicles, making it a significant producer of greenhouse gas. The UPU is therefore urging postal organizations to become climate neutral.