40 member countries elected to Council of Administration and Postal Operations Council

The 24th Universal Postal Congress today re-elected, by acclamation, France's Edouard Dayan and China's Guozhong Huang to the positions of Director General and Deputy Director General of the Universal Postal Union's International Bureau for the period 2009-2012.

First elected at the 2004 Bucharest Congress, Dayan and Huang were the sole candidates for the positions. The member countries elect the organization's two top officials at each UPU Congress.

"Between Bucharest and Geneva, the UPU has travelled far. We have embarked upon profound change. All countries, whatever their size, whatever their level of development and postal organization model, are finding in the UPU an organization which, thanks to solid experience within the United Nations family, helps them to play their part in a world postal network and a constantly changing global environment. Around these values of universality, solidarity and unity of the world postal family, the Universal Postal Union has, in recent years, successfully embraced change," declared Edouard Dayan immediately after his election.

For his part, Guozhong Huang said: "The role played by our institution in economic development and social progress is invaluable. Nowadays, with the challenge of globalization, the role of the postal sector as a basic infrastructure is greater than ever. The UPU's raison d'être is more and more evident. If we can move with the times, adapt to changing environments and persevere with our reforms, the postal sector will remain able to play its irreplaceable role and the UPU will be an international organization that can forge ahead with cooperation between all postal sector players worldwide."

Congress also elected the member countries of the 2009-2012 UPU Council of Administration and Postal Operations Council.
The Council of Administration's 41 member countries ensure the continuity of the UPU's work between Congresses, supervise its activities and study regulatory, administrative, legislative and legal issues. The Council approves the biennial budget and the accounts of the Union.

The following countries were elected to the Council of Administration: Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Botswana, Canada, Cameroon, China (People's Rep.), Congo (Rep.), Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Libyan Jamahiriya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nigeria, Panama (Rep.), Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sweden, Tanzania (United Rep.), Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, United States of America and Uruguay,

Congress also formally elected Kenya to the chairmanship of the Council of Administration, following a proposal adopted in February 2008 by the previous Council of Administration. Kenya announced that His Excellency Ambassador Bishar A. Hussein, Chairman of the 24th Universal Postal Congress, would chair the 2009-2012 Council of Administration.

With 40 member countries, the Postal Operations Council deals with technical and operational issues. It promotes the introduction of new postal products and makes recommendations to member countries concerning standards for technological, operational or other processes. The Council's programme of work aims above all at helping postal services to modernize and upgrade their postal products.

The following countries were elected to the Postal Operations Council: Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China (People's Rep.), Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Korea (Rep.), Libyan Jamahiriya, Japan, Morocco, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States of America and Uruguay.

The chairmanship of the Postal Operations Council will be decided during the constituent meeting of the Council on Friday, 8 August. Great Britain, Greece and Switzerland are vying for the position.
25th Universal Postal Congress

Finally, Congress formally accepted Qatar's offer to host the 25th Universal Postal Congress in Doha in 2012.
Note to editors:
To read Edouard Dayan's speech after being re-elected to the position of Director General of the UPU:
www.upu.int/news_centre/en/speeches_dg.shtml

To read Guozhong Huang's speech after being re-elected to the position of Deputy Director General:
www.upu.int/news_centre/en/speeches_ddg.shtml

About the Universal Postal Union
The UPU, based in Berne (Switzerland), is the primary forum for cooperation between Posts. In addition to maintaining a genuinely universal network that provides modern products and services, it establishes the rules for international mail exchanges among its 191 members and makes recommendations to stimulate mail volume growth and to improve the quality of service for customers. Each year, more than five million employees process and deliver 433.6 billion domestic letter-post items, some 5.5 billion international items and over 6 billion ordinary parcels.
The UPU this year celebrates 60 years as a specialized agency of the United Nations.