UPU News : POC and CA gather for last sessions ahead of Istanbul Congress

09.02.2016 - Member countries are gathering to attend special sessions of the UPU’s Postal Operations Council (POC) and Council of Administration (CA). These are the last scheduled gatherings before the Universal Postal Congress in September.

 Hundreds of delegates are expected to attend the last sessions before Congress 2016

The POC is a 40-member body made up of member countries elected by the UPU’s Congress  and addresses technical and operational issues of the postal sector. 

Meetings began on Monday, kicking off with the UPU World Round Table on Remuneration, a two-day event dealing with payment, including terminal dues. The latter refers to the complex system providing designated operators with financial compensation for handling incoming international mail - a major part of postal revenues. 

Speaking at the round table, UPU Director General Bishar A. Hussein noted that remuneration can be a sensitive topic due to the varied interests at stake and called for a “spirit of mutual cooperation” among members.

Financial services

Also on the first day of the session were meetings on postal financial services, covering partnerships and regulation. They included the first general assembly of the PosTransfer Group, a cooperative newly established by the UPU to modernize postal payment services. Members of the group will potentially be entitled to use the PosTransfer collective trademark, designed to raise customer awareness of remittances through the postal network. 

Meetings of groups belonging to the POC are taking place until 12 February. These sessions, on issues ranging from postal security to knowledge development for e-services, will be followed by the POC plenary session from 15 to 19 February.

CA session approaching

These meetings will set the stage for the 2016 session of the CA, taking place from 20 to 26 February. This UPU decision-making body, composed of 41 member countries, and consisting of government representatives, will address issues such as reforming the Union and updating its Acts, initiatives meant to render the UPU more efficient. 

Other major items awaiting the CA include drafts of the next world postal strategy, which will be signed off at the 2016 Congress in Istanbul, and business plan, which will form the basis of the UPU programme and budget for the new work cycle from 2017-2020. 

Congress, the supreme authority of the Union, meets once every four years. It brings together plenipotentiaries from the 192 member countries of the UPU to decide on the world postal strategy and rules of international mail exchanges. It will meet in Istanbul from 20 September to October 7, 2016.