Africa gears up to host the next Universal Postal Congress

Edouard Dayan Director General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), and the Honourable Mutahi Kagwe, Kenya’s Minister for Information and Communication, today signed an agreement which marks another milestone in the preparations for the 24th Universal Postal Congress, to be hosted by the Kenyan Government and Posta Kenya in Nairobi from 13 August to 3 September 2008. The agreement defines the detailed requirements for Congress.

The Universal Postal Congress, held every four years, is the supreme authority of the Union, bringing together the UPU’s 191 member countries.

A UPU regional round table on the future world postal strategy will also take place in Nairobi starting tomorrow. It is being held with the help of the Pan African Postal Union (PAPU), which brings together 43 countries from across the African continent. The round table – the second in a series of seven being organized by the UPU in collaboration with different regional postal bodies – is designed to gather regional views on the 2009-2012 World Postal Strategy, to be adopted next year in Nairobi.

At Congress, member countries will be invited to sign up to this four-year roadmap, designed to pave the future direction of the postal sector as a whole. It is built around three key strands: improving postal systems’ interoperability through solid UPU international standards, thus strengthening the physical, electronic and financial dimensions of the worldwide postal network, reinforcing postal sector governance, and developing markets and economies.