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AGCC postal heads debate strategies for UPU Congress

DUBAI - Emirates Post hosted an extraordinary meeting of heads of AGCC postal organisations in Dubai on Sunday to coordinate AGCC's participation in the 23rd Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress scheduled to take place in Bucharest in September.

The meeting, chaired by Fadel Abou Al Hassan, Under-Secretary, Ministry of Telecommunications, Kuwait, was convened at the initiative of Emirates Post to prepare a common agenda focusing on issues of concern to AGCC postal organisations in preparation for the forthcoming congress.

One of the key topics discussed at the meeting was outcome of the Roundtable meeting held on February 2 and 3 in Berne, Switzerland to fine-tune the new terminal dues system. Emirates Post highlighted the benefits and negative aspects of the system for the AGCC heads of postal organisations.

The meeting agreed to form a committee to raise the terminal dues issues with other Arab postal organisations in order to work out strategies that would benefit AGCC posts. The attendees also called for a meeting of the Arab Permanent Postal Commission in April to discuss all key issues, ahead of the UPU congress. The meeting further underlined the need for stronger coordination between Arab and AGCC postal organisations to lobby for a common representative to be appointed as head of one of the key UPU committees in order to strengthen the Arab presence at the global level.

Abdulla Al Daboos, Director-General of Emirates Post, said: "The Arab countries need to assert their views on postal matters from the Arab region's point of view. This meeting provided a platform for the heads of the AGCC postal organisations to share their views on new developments in the postal arena, especially the new terminal dues system proposed by UPU. This has also helped the Arab postal bodies to be better prepared to present a unified front at the Bucharest Congress. The heads of AGCC postal organisations agreed that Arab countries need to mount stronger pressure at the UPU gatherings to prevent developed countries from introducing policies that do not serve the interest of the AGCC countries," Mr Daboos added. "The meeting highlighted the need for common strategies on all postal issues, including GATT."

The Emirates Post delegation at the meeting consisted of Abdulla Al Daboos, Sawsan Al Diwani, Assistant Director-General, Development and Marketing Affairs, Ahmed Saif Belhaif, Operations Manager and Nasser Fathi Qaddoumi, head of International Postal Services department.

The AGCC postal organisations were represented by Fadel Abou Al Hassan, Ministry of Telecommunications, Kuwait, Ahmed bin Saleh Al Mawali, Director General of Oman Post, Saeed Al Muraiki, deputy manager, operations, Qatar Post, Nasser Al Mudafer, manager, Administration Department, Qatar Post, Mohammed Hassan Al Abdulla from Kuwait and Majed Ahmed Al Sharhan, representative of the AGCC Consultative Committee and vice-chairman of the Telecommunications Department, Saudi Arabia.