The Universal Postal Congress, postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was held from 9 to 27 August 2021 in Abidjan in a hybrid format.
Delegates from UPU member states as well as observers from international and regional organizations attended the meeting.
For the 27th UPU Congress: nearly 1,300 delegates were registered, with 490 present in Abidjan and 740 participating remotely.
Because of the pandemic, the UPU Congress approved a compromise proposal that allowed members who could not travel to Abidjan to participate in discussions and take an active part in electronic voting.
For representatives of the RCC Communications Administrations who registered for the UPU Congress and had their own personal account, once logged in, they could: plan their work, take part in discussions, speak (by the “raise your hand” sign) and vote on open items on the Congress agenda via the Zooom application.
This procedure took effect on 13 August 2021 and will only remain in force for the duration of the 27th Congress and will then be abolished immediately thereafter.
The proposal for a new Article 1bis was intended to allow for remote participation while limiting this to open voting conducted by the electronic system.
Thus, the physical nature of the Congress was preserved as all secret ballots, including elections, required in-person physical participation.
From the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications, representatives of the RCC Communications Administrations of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Russian Federation and the Deputy General Director of the RCC Executive Committee came to the Congress in Abidjan to participate in person.
Given that the 27th UPU Congress decided (Article 1bis) to hold a secret ballot in the traditional format, it was proposed that the RCC Communications Administrations delegate their authority to those Communications Administrations that participated in person with the right to vote.
The 27th UPU Congress:
- approved a new article 1 bis to allow for remote participation, while restricting the possibility of open voting conducted through the electronic system.
- summed up the UPU's performance between 2017 and 2020,
- the UPU policy on development cooperation for 2022-2025 was presented,
- decisions were taken to amend UPU acts,
- the expenditure limits for the next financial period 2022-2025 were set,
- Approved the Payment Integration Plan and Payment Integration System: Terminal Expenses. Self-determined rates for informal letter-post (E) and small packet (E) items,
- the Abidjan Postal Strategy and Action Plan (2021-2025) is defined,
- the Abidjan Action Plan 2021-2025 Working Proposals have been submitted,
- Product Integration Plan 2022-2025 submitted,
- The Payment Integration Plan (2022-2025) and the Payment Integration System (2022-2025) are presented,
- elections of UPU member states to the new permanent UPU governing bodies, the Administration Council (AC) and Postal Operations Council (POC), as well as the election of the UPU International Bureau (IB) General Director and Deputy General Director.
UPU member states that were unable to participate in person handed over their mandates: Republic of Armenia to the Russian Federation; Kyrgyz Republic to the Republic of Kazakhstan; and Republic of Uzbekistan to the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The RCC member states made significant contributions to Congress.
The proposals made to the Universal Postal Convention and the Final Protocol were adopted. During the consideration of our RCC General Proposals at Congress, there was mutual support.
The RCC's general proposals for the 27th UPU Congress, the Postal Payment Services Agreement, the Postal Payment Services Agreement Regulations and the Universal Postal Convention were sent to the UPU Postal Operations Council for consideration.
It should also be noted that the main points of the RCC resolution on "Strengthening and Developing UPU Cooperation with Regional Unions", are taken into account and foreseen in the new UPU policy on development cooperation for 2022-2025, which was adopted by Commission 6 of Congress on 12 August 2021.
This development cooperation policy aims to strengthen the role of the regional unions and better integrate their contributions into the work of the Union.
The aim is for them to have a decisive impact on the development of the postal sector in all regions.
In this context, the main elements and objectives of this important resolution will be part of the work plan of the Administration Council Commission, which will be responsible for implementing the new cooperation and development strategy over the next cycle.
The UPU International Bureau welcomes the RCC's contribution to the work of the Administration Council in its future activities.
For its part, the RCC Executive Committee provided active assistance throughout the Congress in registering and connecting RCC participants to the Congress, coordinated the work between the participants of the RCC communications administrations and also organized a meeting between N. M. Gordeenko, Chairman of the UPU Working Group and A. A. Kadyrkulov, Deputy General Director of the RCC Executive Committee and PAPU General Director Djibrin Younus on supporting the RCC CA in elections.
During the 27th UPU Congress, elections were held for the UPU leadership as well as for the UPU Administration Council and Postal Operations Council.
Masahiko Metoki (Japan) was elected general director of the UPU International Bureau and Marjan Oswald (Slovenia) was elected deputy general director of the UPU International Bureau.
