Speech by UPU Director General Bishar A. Hussein at the UPU CA Committee 5 "Cooperation and Development", 24 October 2018.
My warmest Greetings to Kenan Bozgeyik, CA Chairman; Masahiko Metoki, POC Chairman; Mauricio Rojas CartÃn (Costa Rica), and Yutaka Kitagami (Japan), Committee 5 Co-Chairs; and to all participants.
I welcome you to the participation of the restricted unions in the work of CA Committee 5, along with other observers.
Implementation of UPU development cooperation policy
Major challenges continue to exist in terms of financial resources and in other regards, particularly for the DOs of DCs.
Government support and the availability of resources remain two major challenges across regions, which could jeopardize the success of UPU’s efforts to develop the global postal network.
In this regard, governments, and in particular LDCs, are expected to prioritize postal issues and participate more actively in UPU development activities.
Posts face major challenges, particularly in the area of new technologies, as competition and customer needs continue to change.
In response, Posts need to improve their quality of service, as well as their technological and logistical infrastructure.
The KPIs and milestones established for the projects show that the implementation effort is on track.
Despite the commitment of most countries benefiting from assistance, certain countries need to be more proactive in order to achieve the project objectives, and fully benefit from the cooperation provided by the UPU.
The optimization of resources and synergies with Posts and restricted unions has been a key objective since the beginning of the cycle.
The main thrust of the technical assistance programme is to strengthen Posts’ human resource capacities through training/workshops and consultancy missions.
Restricted unions play a fundamental role in the implementation of specific projects.
It is important to organize a coordination meeting on development cooperation between UPU and the restricted unions at the midpoint of the Istanbul programming cycle.
This will maintain the dynamic of consultation and cooperation developed over time and foster experience sharing, as well as the exchange of good practices at the interregional level.
On sustainable development, as tasked by the Istanbul Congress, the IB is presenting a proposal for greenhouse gas emission targets.
The targets are designed to be future oriented in that they focus on new technologies and energy sources, and will help brand the postal sector as a front-runner globally.
OSCAR is currently finalizing its third measurement campaign and has undergone updates and improvements.
Under the mandate of CA C3, the potential for enabling OSCAR to be accessed by wider postal sector players is being explored.
The Sustainable Development Programme continues to engage in external collaborations for increased capacity building and knowledge sharing.
Regarding disaster risk management, this summer, many countries in the northern hemisphere experienced a record-breaking hot summer.
The climate is changing. That is for sure and it brings with it serious natural disasters. However, there is also some good news.
Earlier this year, UPU launched a new technical assistance scheme that focuses on disaster preparedness. Proposals from three countries--Grenada, Nepal and Zambia--were chosen.
Now we are in the process of implementing these proposals.
The Emergency Assistance and Disaster Risk Management Task Force has produced excellent results namely a certification process in the field of disaster risk management and the study of a funding mechanism, and of a fundraising strategy for the Emergency and Solidarity Fund.
These measures will provide powerful assistance against the intensifying natural disasters.
I am enormously grateful to the United States, the chair of the Task Force, and Japan that provides financial support to the activities in this field.
Thank you.