The country has serve on the Council of Administration for the past four years
Israel's nominations for election to the Council of Administration (CA) and the Postal Operations Council of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) were not supported at the union's congress meeting in Doha last week.
Israel has served on the Council of Administration for the past four years and has been a member of UPU since 1949. Israel’s delegation to the UPU congress came late, after meetings had already commenced because of logistical confusion over security arrangements with the Qataris.
The countries elected to the CA were: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Brazil, Republic of Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Republic of Congo, Costa Rica, Republic of Cפte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Gabon, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Malawi, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United States of America and Viet Nam. According to the report, Israel's Postal Company feels that political considerations were responsible for the failure to win reelection to the Council of Administration, and that this is “part of the price Israel is paying for its diplomatic isolation.”
The UPU, which was established in 1874, provides a framework for the international exchange of mail through a single global postal territory, formalized through multilateral agreements cited as ‘The Acts’. The UPU is a specialized body of the United Nations that promotes the organization of postal services across 192 member states. In particular, the UPU encourages the development of international collaboration to increase the efficiency of international mail transit. The CA - composed of 41 countries - meets annually at UPU headquarters in Berne, Switzerland, to ensure the continuity of the UPU's work between Congresses, supervise its activities and study regulatory, administrative, legislative and legal issues. Kenya’s Bishar A Hussein has been elected as the new director general to lead the Universal Postal Union over the next four years. Ambassador Hussein is a former Kenyan postmaster general, and has served his country as Ambassador to the UAE. Switzerland’s Pascal Thierry Clivaz has been elected as UPU deputy director general. Clivaz has been director of finance and strategic planning at UPU headquarters in Berne since 2005. He is a former executive of the Swiss Post and was a Swiss delegate at the UPU before joining the organization in 2005.
