Original : English 1st PAPU CEO Forum (Virtual) 11th June, 2021 PAPU/CEOF/I/2021 – Doc. No.6 REPORT OF THE 1ST PAPU CEO FORUM (39th Administrative Council Agenda item No.9c)) 1. Subject References/Paragraphs Observations Report of the 1st PAPU CEO Forum Agenda of the 1st PAPU CEO Forum PAPU/CEOF/I/2021 – Doc. No.1 2. Decisions Expected Take note of the report; 39th Administrative Council Agenda No. Provide input, if any; PAPU/AC/XXXIX/2021 - Doc No.1 Rev1 Adopt the report. 1. Introduction/background The 1st PAPU Postal CEO Forum was held virtually on 11th June, 2021 from 09:00 GMT. The Forum was chaired by Egypt and Botswana was the Vice Chairman after being appointed by the Forum. The General Secretariat performed the role of the rapporteur. 2. Participation The following Members participated during the Forum: 2.1 PAPU Member States : Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 2.2 Other Organizations : Universal Postal Union (UPU), African Union Commission (AUC) and Southern Africa Postal Operators Association (SAPOA. A detailed list of participants is herewith attached as Annex 1. 3. Opening remarks The Opening remarks were made by the following dignitaries: 1 3.1 The Pan African Postal Union (PAPU) Secretary General, Mr. Younouss Djibrine; 3.2 Director General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), Mr. Bishar Hussein; 3.3 The African Union Representative (AUC), Mr. Christian Minoungou; 3.4 The Chairman of Egypt Post, Dr. Sharif Farouk. 4. Installation of the bureau The Bureau was installed as follows: Chairman - Egypt Vice-Chairman - Botswana Rapporteur - General Secretariat 5. Adoption of the agenda The Secretariat presented document number PAPU/CEOF/I/2021 – Doc. No.1 being the draft agenda for the Forum which was unanimously adopted without any amendment. The agenda is attached to this report as Annex 2. 6. Adoption of the Report of the 9th CEOs Forum on South-South Cooperation After presentation of document number PAPU/CEOF/I/2021 – Doc. No.2 containing minutes of the 9th CEO Forum on South-South Cooperation which was held on 5th December, 2021, in Cairo, Egypt by the General Secretariat, the Forum unanimously adopted the minutes without any amendment. 7. Matters arising from the 9th CEO Forum on South-South Cooperation The Secretariat presented document number PAPU/CEOF/I/2021 – Doc. No.3 from which the table below was extracted. The table lists the matters arising from the minutes of the 9th CEO Forum which was held on 5th December, 2019, in Cairo, Egypt, and the action (s) taken against each of them. List of items denoted as matters arising from the 9th CEO Forum on South-South Cooperation S/N Minute number Minute issue Responsible Remark(s) 1. Minute No. 2 bullet 1 The idea of organizing a joint stamp issue Morocco Discussed as a under Adoption of for the Abidjan 2020 Congress was substantive item under minutes of the 8th mooted to commemorate the 4th Agenda item 8, Doc 4a Forum anniversary of the African Philatelic Hub hosted by Morocco. 2. Minute No. 2 bullet 3 Burkina Post was designated to lead the Burkina Faso Discussed as a under the Adoption of African Common Mail Bag (or Mail Bags substantive item under 2 minutes of the 8th Pool) project. Agenda item 8, Doc 4b Forum 3. Minute No. 3 under All member countries were requested to Morocco Discussed as a African Philatelic hub add the Hub’s link substantive item under “https://www.africaphilatelyshop.post/” to Agenda item 8, Doc 4a their respective websites. 4. Minute No. 3 under Poste Maroc (project leader and host of Morocco Discussed as a African Philatelic Hub the Hub) would look into the possibility of substantive item under incorporating payments by UPU Agenda item 8, Doc 4a international reply coupons. 5. Minute No. 3 under The PAPU General Secretariat was PAPU Not possible since the African Philatelic Hub requested to prepare a working session Forum was held virtually. on the sidelines of one of its meetings, to create a platform for synergies between the African Philatelic Hub hosted by Morocco and other initiatives led by the task force on philatelic products chaired by Tunisia. 6. Minute No. 4 NIPOST would circulate the outgoing Nigeria Done CEO Forum Chairman’s report for 2017-2019 period by postal mail to all members as soon as possible 7. Minute No.6 Following a presentation by Mr. Djibrine, PAPU Done SG of PAPU, it was decided that henceforth, PAPU should handle the Secretariat of the CEO Forum; 8. Minute No.6 In consultation with the new Chairman of Chairman/ Done the CEO Forum, PAPU would present a PAPU new governance charter for the CEO Forum during the next meeting. This charter should allow for a harmonious cohabitation of the two related initiatives. 8. Working Sessions Due to the virtual nature in which the Forum was conducted, working sessions could not be feasible. To this end, the Forum received updates from the countries that are leading/championing/spearheading the projects/initiatives, as follows: 3 8.1 African Philatelic Hub Morocco is championing this activity which was presented in document number PAPU/CEOF/I/2021 – Doc. No.4a and the following were the key highlights: 8.1.1 The African Philatelic Hub was officially launched on the fringes of the 26th UPU Congress in Istanbul in October 2016. The event was commemorated by the joint issue of a postage stamp, branded “African Philatelic Hub”; 8.1.2 So far twelve (12) countries have signed the African Philatelic Hub membership agreement, namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo; 8.1.3 The African Philatelic Hub offers a platform to foster cooperation through mutually reinforcing and synergistic processes across common economic, cultural, and regional spaces, in a partnership that is beneficial to all parties; 8.1.4 Actions taken were as follows: The CEO CSSA Forum held in Abidjan on 6th December 2018 decided to organize an event, namely: a) A joint philatelic issue commemorating the 4th anniversary of the Hub’s launch to be hosted on the website www.africaphilatelyshop.post on the sidelines of the forthcoming UPU Congress scheduled to take place in Abidjan. However, only Niger has so far sent newly-produced stamps for sale on the hub; b) During the 9th CEO CSSA Forum held in Egypt in December, 2019, it was agreed that a ceremony be organized to reward the best stamps of the African Philatelic Hub during the aforementioned event: c) Three “Best Seller Awards: Gold, Silver, Bronze”, to be presented for the Hub’s best-selling stamps; d) Three “Best Stamp Awards: Gold, Silver, Bronze”, to be presented for stamps with the most votes from customers and African postal operators. e) The two best-selling stamps from each country (by 20th June 2021) will be nominated for the Best Stamp Award and put to the vote of customers and African postal operators. The PAPU secretariat was requested to appeal to African countries to participate in the planned joint philatelic issue during the Abidjan Congress. At the very least, countries that could not produce stamps in time can participate in the first-day cover signing ceremony. In this regard, the PAPU secretariat was requested to handle the list of participants between now and the date of the event to be attended by all PAPU Member States. A group photograph of Heads of Delegation physically present in Abidjan will commemorate the event. 8.2 Common African Mail Bag project Burkina Faso is leading this project and presented a document number PAPU/CEOF/I/2021 – Doc. 4 No.4b which featured the following main issues. a) An African Postal CEOs Forum was held on April 11th, 2019, at the International Bureau, alongside the 2019-1 sessions of the Postal Operations Council and the Council of Administration of the Universal Postal Union; b) The meeting designated Burkina Faso to pursue the implementation of the “African common postal bag initiative” project through the purchase of the bags by a joint project bringing together interested African countries; c) The main objectives of the project are to strengthen cooperation between member countries by: - Purchasing quality postal bags; - Reducing costs of acquiring bags for each participating country; d) The project will be directly funded by the QSF and/or member states. Each country interested will participate financially in addition to the existing funding of thirty thousand (30,000) USD from the United Arab Emirates; e) The quantities of bags to be allocated to each participating country would be determined in proportion to their financial contribution; f) Accordingly, each country will indicate the amount of its financial commitment through a Statement of Commitment form and will communicate its needs, by indicating them on the needs identification sheet: - The desired sizes (large size, medium-size, or small size); - Type of bag: airplane bag or surface track bag. g) By circular letter dated November 29th, 2019, from the Director General of LA POSTE BURKINA FASO, accompanied by a census form and a Statement of Commitment form, the designated operators of twenty-three (23) member countries were invited to communicate their needs and the amount of their financial commitment to enable the formulation of the project; h) A second letter was sent in June 2020 to all designated operators that have not yet responded to the 29th November, 2019 letter, to kindly communicate their response; i) As of 18th May, 2021, only eleven (11) countries out of twenty-three (23), namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo Rep., Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Morocco, Senegal, and Sierra Leone replied and expressed their interest in the project; j) Countries interested in this initiative and that have not yet reacted can still communicate their need and the amount of their commitment to commence the project by the end of 2021.