The year’s first session of the UPU Council of Administration (CA) was held last 3-7 April in Bern, Switzerland; the Postal Operations Council, where Portugal was represented by CTT-Correios de Portugal, had met the previous week.
This was the first meeting after the 26th Congress (held in 2016) which besides the plenary session also included meetings of the CA committees, give that this Council has met twice since the Council, but only in plenary session on 6-7 October 2016, during the Istanbul Congress, and also on 14-16 December 2016 in Bern. At this session, the CA worked in accordance with the structure, composition and working methods approved at the December session.
Standing out in the work of Committee 1 (Finance, Human Resources and Governance) were some countries’ concerns, with respect to presentation of the external auditor’s report, regarding the high amount of delays in mandatory member contributions as well as the number of recommendations issued by the external auditor in previous reports that are still pending. Committee 1 decided to propose to the plenary session the extension of the task force’s mandate on the situation of the UPU’s pension fund until the next CA session and to ask member countries to participate, which was welcomed by the plenary session.
In Committee 2 (Universal Service Obligation, Regulatory Affairs and Postal Regulation) the postal regulation activities to be carried out during the Istanbul cycle were presented, namely the conferences on postal regulation. The topic of the one to be held during the next CA session (October 2017) is ‘e-commerce’. Another highlight was presentation of the International Bureau’s intention to publish an analytical study on postal regulation, provisionally titled “Global trends in matters of postal regulation”. A presentation was also given on how the International Bureau is applying a Congress decision meant to make mechanisms available for remote participation in UPU meetings; online transmission (proceedings can be accompanied but not intervened in) was already available for this session; tools are being studied for future remote interactive participation. Some concerns were raised about governance aspects associated to remote participation (e.g. the possibility of voting). Committee 2 should continue to accompany this process.
As for Committee 3 (Strategy and Postal Economics), the revised Istanbul activities plan and the report on implementation of the Istanbul postal strategy were presented. Also mentioned was the need to determine a data governance policy in the UPU, specifically bearing in mind the big data wielded by the UPU. The Committee endorsed the International Bureau’s intention to carry out an extensive consultation of key stakeholders in this process. A presentation was also given on the integrated postal development index produced by the International Bureau, sharing with the members some results concerning 2016.
In Committee 4 (Trade Facilitation, Postal Financial Inclusion and E-Trade) several presentations were given: the E-Trade For All initiative of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the UPU’s Easy Export programme and respective pilot project to be conducted in Tunisia; conclusions of the global financial inclusion panorama and a new mechanism for technical assistance in this context, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Also approved was the organisation of high-level forums on trade facilitation and on digital economy/e-trade, which should take place during the autumn CA sessions in 2018 and 2019.
Committee 5 (Cooperation and Development) approved the strategy for implementing the cooperation policy for development of the UPU in 2017-2020 and took note of its structure, functions and working plan, particularly creation of the task force on Emergency Assistance and Disaster Risk Management, as well as activities to carry out in the area of sustainable development. Also presented was the Ecom@Africa initiative, whose main goal is to position the postal network as a key facilitator of e-commerce.
The ad hoc group on UPU Reform, which reports directly to the plenary session, held its first meeting. The results were presented of a consultation of member states decided by the CA at the December meeting, in which 65 countries expressed interest in taking part in the group’s work (a further 6 showed interest during the meeting). Based on the International Bureau’s compilation of the responses to that consultation and the respective debate at the meeting, the group identified the main questions that are still open and decided to send a questionnaire to all UPU members. The group’s next meeting was also scheduled for this coming 28-29 June.
The plenary considered and validated the reports from the committees and from the ad hoc group. A decision was also made to create a task force under Committee 1 to deal with the question of the UPU’s financing and the system of member state contributions, a subject previously envisaged for the ad hoc group. However, it was deemed more suitable to separate it, owing to its specificity and complexity.
The next session of the CA will take place on 23-27 October 2017.
