Moving the postal sector forward since 1875 DECEMBER 2012 No 4 Interview with new DG Parcel inquiries get faster ISSN 0041-7009 ISSN Facing DOHA POSTAL STRATEGY P the future OSTER INSI DE! head on (86)769-89152814 Board Envelope Variable barcode Series The board envelopes can 3D board envelope be used for 2 times Both sides of the drain coated to prevent excess glue Poly Mailer Series Variable barcode Anti-counterfeiting sealing Bubble Mailer Variable barcode Series Variable message Plastic Seal Variable barcode Series Low or high temperarure endurance Water proof Dust proof Great protection for waybill, invoices, Packing List cards and other shipping Envelope documents Series Our other products: Waybill with barcode , Adhesive stickers , Packing tapes , Packaging belts , Bills and so on Contents (86)769-89152814 Cover story Tempo set for new cycle A round-up of key decisions taken at the Doha Congress 2012 8 Board Envelope Variable barcode Feature Series New look for UPU bodies Postal Operations Council and Council of Administration get structural revamp 14 The board envelopes can 3D board envelope Ministers stand up for postal services be used for 2 times High-level support for network at ministerial conference 16 Countries declare good intentions Both sides of the drain coated Declaration shows addressing still on agenda 18 to prevent excess glue The man, the myth, the stamps What made two Mauritian stamps the most coveted in the world 26 Poly Mailer IBIS speeds up parcel inquiries Series Variable barcode Online system simplifies locating missing parcels 29 The interview In good hands Anti-counterfeiting sealing Bishar Hussein, UPU director general-elect, on leading the sector 20 Cover: gettyimages.com Five minutes (Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong) Familiar face, new office Pascal Clivaz on his new role as UPU deputy director general 24 Departments Bubble Mailer Variable barcode In brief 4 Series Variable message Editor’s note 5 Market focus 28 Plastic Seal December Variable barcode Low or high Series 2012Manager, Communication Programme: Rhéal LeBlanc (RL) temperarure Editor-in-chief: Faryal Mirza (FM) endurance Contributors: Jenifer Fenton (JF), Jérôme Deutschmann (JD), Christine Maria Paschyn (CMP), Ruby Praka (RP), Kayla Redstone (KR), Julian Ryall (JR), Susan Vogel-Misicka (SVM) Photographer: Nawras Alfawal Translators: Richard Alderman, James Holden, Mark Prosser Union Postale Translation assistant: Gisèle Coron International Bureau Water proof Design and layout: Die Gestalter, St Gallen, Switzerland Universal Postal Union Dust proof Union Postale is the Universal Postal Union’s flagship magazine, founded Printer: Gassmann, Biel, Switzerland P. O. Box 312 Great protection for in 1875. It is published quarterly in seven languages and takes a closer Subscriptions: [email protected] 3000 BERNE 15 waybill, invoices, look at UPU activities, featuring international news and developments Advertising: [email protected] SWITZERLAND Packing List cards and other from the postal sector. shipping The magazine regularly publishes well researched articles on topical The Universal Postal Union neither endorses any products or services Phone: Envelope documents issues facing the industry, as well as interviews with the sector’s leading offered by third-party advertisers nor guarantees the veracity of +41 31 350 35 95 individuals. any claims made by the same. Fax: It is distributed widely to the UPU’s 192 member countries, includ- Opinions expressed in the articles are not necessarily those +41 31 350 37 11 Series ing thousands of decision-makers from governments and Posts, as well of the UPU. Material may be reproduced with prior permission; please E-mail: as other postal stakeholders. All regard it as an important source of contact the editor-in-chief for more details. [email protected] information about the UPU and the postal sector at large. The English and French magazines are printed on FSC Mixed Website: Our other products: Waybill with barcode , Adhesive stickers , Packing tapes , Packaging belts , Bills and so on Union Postale is also published in French, Arabic, Chinese, German, Sources paper using processes and ink, which are certified as friendly http://news.upu.int/ Russian and Spanish. to the environment. magazine 4/2012 Union Postale · 3 in brief Scenes from the Doha Congress (Photos: Nawras Alfawal) Congress video archives From October 7-11, 2012, UN Web TV filmed all the Doha proceedings To access the archive, check out: http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/conferencessummits/25th-universal-postal-congress-7-11-october-2012-doha-qatar/ Postage Redefining literature for the blind Blind and visually impaired persons different formats, including sound books in Braille have given way to worldwide now have modern rules recordings and equipment or materi- CDs specially formatted for use by for sending and receiving materials als of any kind made or adapted to the blind. internationally after the Doha Con- assist blind persons. “Changing the As specialist stores, bookshops gress extended the exemption from wording of the provisions of the Uni- and libraries are often located far postal charges to ‘items for the blind’ versal Postal Convention to ‘items for from where blind people live, the to include a wider range of articles. the blind’ will have a significant pos- Post is the only service that can The definition of persons and organ- itive impact on the electronic inclu- bridge these distances. “The large izations that may send items for the sion of blind people in today’s soci- number of countries that voted in blind internationally has also been ety,” says Dan Pescod, vice-chair of favour of these changes at the Doha expanded. Any item for the blind the World Blind Union. Congress is a reminder that these sent to or by an organization for the Today, blind and visually impaired countries have honoured their com- blind or sent to or by a blind person persons, estimated at 285 million mitments under the United Nations will be exempt from postal charges. worldwide, get their information Convention on the Rights of Persons In future, items for the blind will using new media and modern with Disabilities,” said Pescod. JD cover correspondence, literature in communication tools. Heavy, bulky 4 · Union Postale 4/2012 Editor’s note When I look back on what was my first experience of you were here’ postcard of Congress highlights. Alas, Congress, a number of images come to mind. Against it proved to be nigh on impossible to do justice to all the the strong blue and geometric designs of the event’s developments that took place in Doha. Cherry-picking branding, people from the postal sector mingle in gigan- was a necessary evil but I hope, nevertheless, that you get tic halls and marble corridors in intense discussions to a glimpse – and for those that were there, a reminder – steer the course of the Union. All are reunited under the of some key developments. Congress motto: New world, new strategy. And the magazine is not only looking backwards but During those three weeks in Doha, a new strategy also forward to a new era. From 2013, the UPU will not was indeed forged to deal with a business world in per- only have a new strategy but also a different leadership. petual motion. I returned from Doha with a keen sense To help readers get acquainted with the new yet familiar of what moves our industry, what gives our colleagues in faces, we have interviewed the director general elect, the 192 member countries sleepless nights and what Bishar Hussein, and his deputy, Pascal Clivaz, to get closer thrills them about the Union’s work. to the personalities behind the titles. This issue of Union Postale is dedicated to those of you, who could not attend Congress. This is our ‘wish FARYAL MIRZA, edItoR-IN-CHIef, UNION POSTALE maGAZIne Financial inclusion Posts must exploit untapped potential The 25th UPU Congress has adopted New research inclusion,” says Alexandre Berthaud, a resolution urging member coun- Posts are underused for financial one of the report’s authors. “If only tries to continue developing postal inclusion, despite having the largest 51 Posts offering savings accounts financial services, further recogniz- number of contact points in the can bank a billion people, then the ing their contribution to the United world, according to a report by the remaining postal operators of the Nations Millennium Development UPU, presented at Congress. With UPU’s 192 member countries could Goal of reducing poverty. 660,000 contact points in the world, easily provide a gateway to finan- With the decline of letter-post Posts and their financial subsidiaries cially include at least 500 million volumes, financial services offer new come only second to banks in their unbanked people directly or through growth opportunities for postal ser- potential to contribute to financial partnerships with banks.” vices, and they are gaining ground as inclusion. There are 523,000 bank Providing a global panorama on Posts consider strategies to diversify branches and ATMs in the world, postal financial inclusion, the report the business. Postal financial services according to the International Mone- identifies five main categories of accounted for almost 12 per cent of tary Fund. business models Posts use to provide global postal revenues worth 304 bil- An estimated one billion people financial services, as well as key lion USD, according to UPU statistics are currently banked through the issues to keep in mind when provid- for 2011. In countries, such as China, postal network. Fifty-one postal ing such services or moving into India, Gabon, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Italy, operators worldwide held 1.6 billion more complex financial services. The Azerbaijan, Belarus and Burundi, these savings and deposit accounts in 2010. report also recommends how postal services contribute more than 50 per “The postal network offers tremen- operators could progressively offer cent of the Post’s revenues.