UPU News : New leadership takes over

09.01.2013 - Kenya's Bishar A. Hussein and Switzerland's Pascal Clivaz were inaugurated today as the new Director General and Deputy Director General of the Universal Postal Union.

 Bishar A. Hussein and Pascal Clivaz are on the job since 1 January

During a ceremony today at UPU headquarters, Hussein told member-country representatives and dignitaries that he was committed to strengthening the global postal network by ensuring that all countries, from industrialized countries to developing ones and small island states, were fully integrated into the postal community.

“We must address the needs of all UPU member countries in an inclusive manner,” said the former ambassador and chief executive officer of the Kenyan Post, who also chaired the UPU Council of Administration during the last cycle. Speeches

Read the speeches delivered by the new management

The new head of the United Nations specialized agency for postal services is the first director general from sub-Saharan Africa. At the ceremony, he assured his audience that he would work with all stakeholders to implement the Doha Postal Strategy, the organization’s four-year roadmap adopted at the Universal Postal Congress held in Qatar at the end of 2012.

He said the strategy was based on a strong vision of a postal sector as an essential component of the global economy. “As director general, it will be my duty and commitment to implement this strategy in an efficient manner, for the benefit of all member countries,” said Hussein.

Switzerland’s Pascal Clivaz also took over as UPU deputy director general. He said the new management’s task would be to think up solutions for a communication sector at a crossroads, as social habits evolve in the wake of technological evolutions and global crises.

“Consumption patterns are ever changing, and economic constraints have caused many to rethink their public investments. Consequently, within the framework of a renewed pact for the sector, we must offer new openings, innovations and opportunities, so that the postal sector becomes not only an instrument of public power, but also a preferred lever for economic players.”

The new management inherits an organization dedicated to ensuring the efficient exchange of postal communication among the Posts of the organization’s 192 member countries.

The global postal sector has many challenges in the face of market liberalization, increased competition and the rapid evolution of communication technologies that are changing the face of postal services worldwide. As physical mail volumes decline, new communication and information technologies and the growth of e-commerce are opening up a swath of new opportunities for the world’s Posts in postal financial services, parcels and small-package delivery, and logistics and postal e-services, among others.

The UPU, one of the smallest organizations in the UN system, has an annual budget of some 37 million Swiss francs (40 million US dollars). Its secretariat, the International Bureau, based in Berne, employs some 220 employees from all over the world to oversee the work of the Union in a wide range of areas. These include measures that range from helping member countries improve their quality of postal services to developing postal e-services and managing relationships with international customs, airlines and standardization bodies to speed up the dispatch, processing and delivery of global postal services.

More than 368 billion letter-post items and 6 billion parcels are delivered annually by the world’s postal services, many of which also provide financial, logistics and electronic services. 

Source :  http://news.upu.int