France's Edouard Dayan and China's Guozhong Huang run for second UPU mandate
Kenya will chair the 24th Universal Postal Congress in Geneva from 23 July to 12 August 2008 as well as the UPU’s Council of Administration for 2009-2012.
The Kenyan Government has confirmed that Mr. Bishar A. Hussein, a former Postmaster General of Kenya Post and currently Kenya’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, will chair the Congress.
When the UPU Council of Administration decided last February to change the venue of the 24th Universal Postal Congress from Nairobi to Geneva (see UPU press release of 11.2.2008), it also passed a resolution inviting Kenya to chair the Congress and the future Council of Administration. Kenya has now formally accepted these invitations.
“The Congress presents a unique opportunity to leaders, policy makers, regulators, operators and other key stakeholders, like customers’ organizations to reposition the post and make it more competitive in the rapidly changing environment,” said Mr. Hussein. “It is with great pleasure that I rejoin the international postal fraternity in my new role as chairman of the 24th UPU Congress. I am humbled by the trust and confidence that my government has bestowed upon me. I am also greatly encouraged by the support and confidence of the UPU’s International Bureau in my appointment.”
Kenya will also chair the Council of Administration for 2009-2012, a UPU body made up of 41 member countries and responsible for overseeing the organization’s finances, international postal regulations and strategic direction of the Union between Congresses.
Kenya’s Minister for Information and Communications, Samuel Poghisio, expressed gratitude to UPU member countries for according Kenya the opportunity to chair both the Congress and the Council of Administration, adding that the entire continent of Africa felt honoured.
“As the next chair of the Council of Administration, Kenya will endeavour to ensure that technological development in information and communication technologies are optimized to eradicate the bottlenecks in the advancement of the global postal networks,” said the Minister. “This is a key element as the UPU and other relevant authorities strive to implement the next world postal strategy.”
“Furthermore, the Government of Kenya has no doubt that Ambassador Hussein’s immense experience in postal matters and networking at the diplomatic level will translate into a huge success in the quality of debate at the Congress,” he added.
In other Congress news, France’s Edouard Dayan, current UPU Director General, and China’s Guozhong Huang, current Deputy Director General, will run for a second four-year mandate. No other candidates have stepped forward for the top UPU jobs.
So far, Great Britain, Greece, the Russian Federation and Switzerland have announced their candidacy for the chairmanship of the Postal Operations Council, a 40-member UPU body in charge of overseeing a range of postal operational issues such as security, quality of service, technical cooperation and development, postal financial services and more. Other countries could still announce their candidacy up until Congress.
Some 1,500 delegates from the UPU’s 191 member countries will converge on Geneva in July and August for the Universal Postal Congress, held every four years. The international postal meeting will also draw hundreds of observers and participants from international organizations and shareholders from the postal sector at large.