On 22 and 23 September, the Universal Postal Union's Strategy Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, will explore the future of the worldwide postal sector.
How can Posts remain relevant in the face of technological advances and changing consumer behaviours? Should Posts increasingly diversify their services to remain competitive and generate new revenues that compensate declining letter-post volumes? How can Posts use their extensive networks to bring people out of poverty by offering services that promote financial inclusion?
Delegates at the Strategy Conference will look for answers to these questions and more as the worldwide postal sector redefines itself in the face of economic difficulty, the advancement of new technologies and ever-evolving business and customer demands.
The UPU Strategy Conference is the most important event of the year for the international postal sector as it heads towards the next 2012 Universal Postal Congress in Doha, Qatar, where the 191 member countries of the UN specialized agency for postal services will adopt a new world postal strategy.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Kunio Mikuriya, secretary general of the World Customs Organization, Jesús Miranda Hita, vice-minister of Spain’s ministry of transport and public works, the secretaries general of several regional postal organizations and the CEOs of Posts from around the world are among the high-level stakeholders participating in the Conference.
Shaping a future strategy
An important task of the Conference is to take stock on progress made in achieving the broad objectives of the current four-year roadmap the UPU adopted at the last Universal Postal Congress, held in Geneva in 2008. The Conference will also serve as a platform for shaping the future strategy of the organization and the postal sector at large.
“From a business angle, the economic crisis has precipitated trends such as the decline of physical mail and the need to diversify postal products and services to better meet the need of customers,” says Edouard Dayan, director general of the UPU. “And from a social and development angle, postal services have never been more critical in helping governments bridge communication gaps, promote financial inclusion, reduce the impact of climate change, promote health and education, foster trade and other issues that plague our society. These issues are at the heart of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and it will be most appropriate that the postal sector talk about its role in these issues as the UN General Assembly meets in New York to discuss progress on achieving the Millennium Goals by the 2015 deadline.”
Kenya’s minister for information and communication, Samuel Poghisio, says Kenya is pleased to host the Conference, adding that the Government recognizes the postal sector’s critical role in the economy and its potential for improving the economic and social well-being of populations. “We are diligently working towards the provision of a supportive environment to enable citizens’ access to basic postal services regardless of social, economic or physical barriers under the principles of one postal territory,” says the minister. “The UPU’s Strategy Conference presents an opportunity to reflect on the possibilities of the Post for boosting our country’s economy. Postal operators, regulators and other stakeholders in developing countries need to take advantage of the current policy framework to use platforms based on information and communication technologies to catalyze growth and develop postal services on the African continent.”
First time in Africa
It is the first time the UPU is holding its Strategy Conference on African soil. Edouard Dayan says countries all over the continent are making tremendous efforts to strengthen their postal networks and bring improvements to the quality of service. The Strategy Conference is being organized with the kind support of the Kenyan Government and Post.
“Posts in Africa, like others, are adapting to the new business and communication environments. Major technological advances are enabling some to improve existing services and offer new ones. Innovation will be an important topic during our conference because it is a key element of Posts’ ability to develop. But our global strategy also aims to reduce the development gaps that exist among Posts so that postal services worldwide deliver a consistent quality of service to retain customers’ trust.”
The Strategy Conference will be held at the United Nations Office in Nairobi, Kenya, on 22 and 23 September 2010. Close to 500 delegates representing more than 110 countries will participate.