''Reaching everyone everywhere - Universal postal service is key'' is the Universal Postal Union (UPU) slogan for the World Post Day, which will be celebrated on 9 October.
Message from Thomas Leavey, former UPU Director General, underlines that postal services have an indispensable role, namely in the information society, as a factor to reduce the gaps existing between the industrialized and developing countries’ information systems. In view of the danger of a digital gap, postal services, namely the universal postal service, are one of the only information vehicles in societies where there is still a long way to go in terms of socio-economic development.
The World Post Day celebrations in Portugal will take place at the Fundação Portuguesa das Comunicações, on October 7.
Within the scope of the institutional session, the prizes of the 2004 letter-writing contest will be awarded and the 2005 edition will be launched. In addition, several exhibitions will be opened under themes such as “New Image of Post Offices”, “200 years of Coach Mail Delivery (trip between Lisbon and Coimbra)”, “Coach-delivered Mail” and “Originals of non-issued postal tickets”.
UPU, which 190 Member-countries are a unique postal territory, has the key mission of fostering universal postal service, encouraging governments to define the concept in their respective national postal legislations and promoting postal service regulations, including its new facets, such as e-mail. Within this scope, it is relevant the adoption, in UPU Congress held in Bucharest till 5 October, of an amendment to the Convention which will define the legal framework of the “Electronic Postmark”, being acknowledged as one more postal service.
Further information:
- Message of Thomas Leavey http://www.upu.int/world_post_day/en/dg_message_world_post_day_2004_en.pdf
Related information on ANACOM's website:
- World Post Day https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=96638
- Postal services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=4611
- General framework https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=106612
