Opening the World Round Table on Remuneration (WRTR) on 14 February, Pascal Clivaz, Deputy Director General of the Universal Postal Union said, “We must hold on to this spirit, the spirit of Geneva, as we head for the Abidjan Congress.”
The UPU Deputy Director General was referring to the third Extraordinary Congress held in Geneva, Switzerland in September 2019 that decided to accelerate rate increases to the system for remunerating the delivery of inbound international bulky letters and small packets. Self-declared rates are to be phased-in starting as soon as 2020.
In his opening speech, and referring to the decision made in Geneva, Mr. Clivaz said, “[In Abidjan] we will be able to look back and see that remuneration is a particularly important matter for this Union and that it was subject to intense scrutiny and discussions, but, in the end, the UPU faced the challenge and delivered.”
Mr Clivaz also led tribute to the various UPU expert teams and said it was their expertise and commitment that had led to the success in Geneva.
Drawing in experts from across the international postal sector, the roundtable discussed an overview of remuneration systems in the current Congress cycle (2018–2021); the Integrated Remuneration Plan (IRP); the outcomes of the third Extraordinary Congress in Addis Ababa; Implementation of the new E-format remuneration; draft Congress proposals for an Integrated Remuneration System (IRS); and the Abidjan Business Plan – draft work proposals for further development of the IRP and the IRS.
On 17 October 2018, the UPU received a letter of denunciation from the United States, which, had it not been revoked, would have come into effect one year after the day on which it was received and led to the US leaving the UPU.
Under the agreed solution, member countries that meet certain requirements – including inbound letter-post volumes in excess of 75,000 metric tonnes – would be able to opt-in to self-declare their rates starting 1 July 2020. Thresholds are included to protect low-volume, developing countries from the impact of the swift reform.
The UPU’s Universal Postal Congress will be held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 10-28 August, 2020.