Universal Postal Union Strategy Conference

Your majesty
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a great pleasure to join you today. Allow me first of all to extend my sincere thanks to the United Arab Emirates for the most generous welcome and for the support for the work of the wider United Nations family. Our hosts have extensive experience in using existing resources efficiently – taking full advantage all human and intellectual capacities – to propel development. I have no doubt that this valuable know-how will inspire us all throughout this Strategy Conference, where the effective use of available technological and human capital to guarantee postal services for all will be a central theme.

Enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of postal services worldwide is of concern to the entire United Nations system. This is not only because the United Nations is, in fact, the only organization in the world, which is neither a country nor a territory, that is permitted – through the United Nations Postal Administration – to issue postage stamps.

Each year, postal operators process and distribute over 420 billion domestic letter-box items, around six billion international items and more than 4.4 billion ordinary parcels. Postal services thus form part of the daily lives of people across the world, and the delivery of these services touches upon all three “pillars” of the United Nations’ work: security, development and human rights.

As an example, obstructing the shipment of illegal substances and dangerous items in the mail is important in our fight against terrorism, organized crime and narcotics. Likewise, rapid restoration of the postal network is crucial in the wake of conflict or natural disasters and helps facilitate both immediate recovery and longer-term reconstruction efforts. The free circulation of postal items is critical to communication among people – regardless of nationality or background. This continuous flow of ideas and information is a means to fostering greater understanding, creating trust and confidence, and nurturing tolerance within our human family. As such, it forms part of our efforts to build peaceful relations among the peoples of the world. The introduction and reinforcement of environmentally friendly business practices in the postal sector, which comprises more than 660,000 postal outlets and employs over 5 million staff, contributes greatly towards environmental sustainability.

As a specialized agency, the Universal Postal Union is a central member of the United Nations family and cooperates with entities throughout the United Nations system for consistent, coherent and coordinated efforts in all of these areas. This active engagement with fellow members of the United Nations family is highly appreciated and helps enable integrated and effective responses on the part of the United Nations to the multi-faceted, interconnected challenges that the international community faces.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Postal services are essential elements of the economic and social infrastructure of all countries. Together, the postal services of the Universal Postal Union’s 191 member countries form the largest physical distribution network in the world. They connect communities across borders. They help sustain the flow of information, and they facilitate the movement of goods and the provision of financial and other services. Postal services therefore have a critical role to play in our collective efforts to accelerate development, including realizing the Millennium Development Goals, and we need to continue to harness the potential of postal services as an instrument of development.

New technologies offer the opportunity to strengthen postal services worldwide and capitalize further on their potential for advancing development. Postal operators across the globe increasingly take advantage of these new technologies to expand the range, improve the quality and enhance the reliability and safety of services at affordable prices, while extending the reach of postal networks to allow access for a greater number of people. The activities of the postal sector in bridging the digital divide, for example through the development of information technology applications that can be integrated by developing countries are particularly valuable in this regard.

As many of you will be aware, if current trends persist, we will not be able to achieve many of the Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015 – in particular in sub-Saharan Africa. It is therefore my hope that this Strategy Conference will generate additional recommendations on how postal services, through comprehensive and creative application of technology, may help drive development forward as part of our joint efforts to deliver on the pledges made.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

In our globalized world, postal services must evolve and adapt in light of ever-changing political and economic realities. In responding to challenges such as increasing migratory movements and the opening up of markets, the postal sector must continue to ensure that it remains a dynamic force for progress.

Delivery of secure and effective postal services to all segments of society in all countries can be achieved only through multilateral partnerships that draw on the knowledge and insights of all stakeholders – Governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society. I am confident that the interactive and inclusive format of this Strategy Conference will help stimulate innovative thinking and the formulation of practical proposals to enable future postal services to benefit both developed and developing countries.

Thank you very much.