24th UPU Congress: July 2008

International decision-makers will participate in a high-level debate on 25 July 2008 focusing on the theme “The postal sector, an essential component of the global economy”.
The conference will set the tone for 24th Universal Postal Congress, which opens in Geneva, Switzerland, on 23 July and lasts until 12 August 2008.
Three panel discussions on how postal services can work effectively in an era of globalization, the challenges and the new frontiers for the postal sector in an ever-changing world, and partnerships for the global supply chain will be held throughout the day.
In addition to several chief executives representing Posts from industrialized and developing countries, confirmed participants will include:

• Pascal Lamy, General Director of the World Trade Organization

• Michel Danet, Secretary General of the World Customs Organization

• Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association

• Lenin Moreno, Vice-president, Republic of Ecuador

• Hiroya Masuda, Japan’s Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications

• Jean Ping, President of the African Union Commission

• Philip Jennings, Secretary General of Union Network International

• Nick Staheyeff, CEO of eBay International

• Saleh M. Nsouli, Director of the International Monetary Fund for Europe

• Dilip Ratha, Senior economist and expert in remittances, World Bank

A preliminary programme of the general debate is available at: www.upu.int/congress/en/index.shtml

“The general debate will be one of the highlights of Congress and particularly important, strategically, for the entire postal community. Indeed, it represents an opportunity for UPU members as well as postal stakeholders the world over to exchange insights on the future of the postal sector. The debate aims to confirm the sector’s appropriate positioning in view of the world’s economic reality, the new issues affecting the sector, and the UPU’s next four-year strategy,” says UPU Director General Edouard Dayan.

Journalist Muriel Siki, from the Télévision Suisse Romande, and Professor Matthias Finger, from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, will lead the round table discussions.
With two months to go before the 24th UPU Congress opens at the Geneva International Conference Centre, preparations for the event are going well. Some 1,500 delegates from the UPU’s 191 member countries are expected to attend the Congress, held only every four years. The international postal meeting will also draw hundreds of observers and participants from international organizations and stakeholders from the postal sector at large.