24th UPU Congress changes location

Given the current situation in Kenya, the Universal Postal Union’s Council of Administration on Friday decided to change the venue of the 24th Universal Postal Congress from Nairobi, Kenya, to Geneva, Switzerland.
The UPU Congress was scheduled to take place in Nairobi from 13 August to 3 September 2008. The event attended by about 1,500 delegates from the UPU’s 191 member countries will now take place in Geneva from mid-July to early August; the exact dates remain to be confirmed.
A resolution adopted by the Council also recommends that Congress approve Kenya’s chairmanship of that Congress as well as the chairmanship of the UPU Council of Administration from 2009-2012. It will also recommend promoting Nairobi as the venue for the UPU Strategy Conference in 2010.
Kenya has not yet communicated its response to this resolution.
The UPU must hold a Congress every four years. The last one was held in Bucharest, Romania, in 2004. The situation in Kenya currently prevents the UPU International Bureau to work effectively with Kenya on continuing to organize a Congress in Nairobi. As a specialized agency of the United Nations, the UPU follows UN security rules. At the moment, the UN has implemented security phase II in Nairobi and phase III in the entire Rift Valley. As such, all non-essential UN missions to Kenya remain suspended.

Given the current situation in Kenya, the Universal Postal Union’s Council of Administration on Friday decided to change the venue of the 24th Universal Postal Congress from Nairobi, Kenya, to Geneva, Switzerland.
The UPU Congress was scheduled to take place in Nairobi from 13 August to 3 September 2008. The event attended by about 1,500 delegates from the UPU’s 191 member countries will now take place in Geneva from mid-July to early August; the exact dates remain to be confirmed.
A resolution adopted by the Council also recommends that Congress approve Kenya’s chairmanship of that Congress as well as the chairmanship of the UPU Council of Administration from 2009-2012. It will also recommend promoting Nairobi as the venue for the UPU Strategy Conference in 2010.
Kenya has not yet communicated its response to this resolution.
The UPU must hold a Congress every four years. The last one was held in Bucharest, Romania, in 2004. The situation in Kenya currently prevents the UPU International Bureau to work effectively with Kenya on continuing to organize a Congress in Nairobi. As a specialized agency of the United Nations, the UPU follows UN security rules. At the moment, the UN has implemented security phase II in Nairobi and phase III in the entire Rift Valley. As such, all non-essential UN missions to Kenya remain suspended.
Under UPU General Regulations, when circumstances prevent the designated host country of a Congress to organize the international meeting as planned, the UPU International Bureau headquartered in Berne organizes the Congress in Switzerland. This is done in agreement with the Swiss Government.