Rob Steele, the secretary-general of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), has met with the director general of the Universal Postal Union, Edouard Dayan, to discuss ways to strengthen the organizations' existing collaboration.
The visit marked Secretary-General Steele's first visit to the UPU since he took up his position in January 2009. Discussions focussed on implementing their formal cooperation, as set out in the cooperation agreement of 2008, and identifying new areas of mutual interest. The latter includes creating standards for addressing, e-business and financial services.
The UPU currently has liaison status on 17 of ISO's technical committees and sub-committees. As an inter-governmental organization, the Union has already developed about 100 postal standards. However, it recognizes that no organization is an island and the focus has been extended from creating standards for processing physical mail to other areas of interest for the postal sector, such as electronic and financial services. Norms for such services are developed at international forums like ISO, where the UPU is endeavouring to increase its participation in activities that might impact the postal industry.