 Ac fel oeddwn i'n gweithio, mae'n ystod yn gennym yn Genes Lleodraeth a'r amsgol. Wel, mae hynny'n gweithio i'r gweithio i'r gweithio i'i gweithio i'r gweithio ar hyn o'r gweithio. Mynd i'n gweithio, mae'n gweithio i'r grwrs o'r amser yn gyffredig sydd wedi'i gweithio'r amser. Ie ddaeth y lleol yw'r ceilydau i fynd i'r cyflym a'r cyflym? Well, thank you very much, Mr Morwetha, distinguished friends, ladies and gentlemen, I say as-salaamu alaifan, a very warm welcome and good morning to you. Well, I must say we have become too familiar with each other now. We see each other quite often and this is something which is very positive. You are the captains of the industry. You are the drivers of the postal world. You are the decision makers. And it's very interesting that for a very long time we have never had this kind of forum where we get together, first of all, even to discuss our own issues. So seeing you today is really a pleasure for me. A couple of years back myself and Deputy Director General realised the absence of these men and women, the CEOs, from the postal UPU headquarters. The reason for that is historical, but again it was practical. We had very long, long, long sessions, three weeks, four weeks, and our CEOs could not come for that long at the UPU and give me the context. So we created what we call a CEOs forum. We realised that we needed it. And probably this is the fourth edition we have done. We have done it in Istanbul last time. We have done it in Paris. We have done it in Russia. And this is the fourth one. So again, I want to welcome all the CEOs who are here present today. We found the time really for making this happen. Very dramatic week last week, I must say. And I don't know how to tell this story, but the same men and women who have delivered that are the ones who are sitting in front of me here. So I'm telling the story to the people who really participated in the whole entire exercise in front of me. But as a matter of good feeling, I must say that it was a dramatic week. You know very well that the history of Tamil Nadu's system, which was really the genesis, the curse of the things that brought together in Geneva last week, is something that's not new. It started nearly 50 years ago in 1969 in Tokyo. So every year on the year on the year, we've been doing every Congress track cycle rather. We've been doing incremental changes to the thing, but we've never had such a drastic reform. And for the last probably 10 years or so, it has been a serious concern for many countries. So in the last cycle and cycle before that, I know that this topic was really very on top of everybody's mind. But the real push for this solution to this problem came when the United States of America sent us a very strong warning last year to tell us that they are going to quit the union if the problem is not solved. That was the impetus. So from October last year, my team together with all the members here really took the one message very well and clear. And for once, I think there was a lot of effort done by member countries. But the problem itself was so complex. It involves money. It involves a lot of interests. And therefore member countries had very many views on these things. Different views, really, and irreconcilable, some of that. So there was option A and there's option B and there's B minus and C plus and C minus and C reason. So we were all over the place. We had no solution to this problem. Of course, the International Bureau of Secretaries' role here was to play a neutral role and help member countries freely with information and encourage them to be able to become the compromise. So what happened here is that but we left really the main decision of the 10 months of growing real consultations and discussions and meetings and everything. Then an extra order of Congress was called to deal with the matter. By the time we were all coming to this Congress, no one knew there was no way an air compromise. So that's when I and my team really decided that now we need to take the matter, we get involved ourselves now directly and come with an option that was going to form a compromise basis for member countries. I called for a team of countries, that for countries to come here, walk out. I knew air was not going to fly because it was too extreme and I knew B was not going to fly, so the solution and the convergence was around C, but C had many variants and 12 different amendments to it. So this is what we did on Sunday and Monday in a hotel called Roewick. We banned Bidnight Oil but countries had a real-tech and hardline position and some of them were so upbeat and they knew they had the numbers there for it. It was a number game and they didn't want a compromise. And I was very, very disappointed to see really that when we come to a matter of this nature and we are almost coming to the edge, some countries take a hardline position. So we then came in. I always say this. International Bureau of Secretariat is made of professional, highly intelligent, well-experienced individuals. We may be neutral but that means that we don't have an opinion. So we said we'll step in and we drafted what is called a compromise position. We call it a V option. We didn't want to call it a D because D will signify a disaster. So we said we had A, B and C but we didn't want to call it a D. So we said let's come with a victory for all and that victory really at the end of the day after long negotiations and a lot of discussions, consultations midnight. Different parties. We played diplomacy at the highest level. I have never seen anything like that. And we were able finally to close with a victory which really in innocence was bits and pieces from A, B, C, C, minus and all this together. We are to put it into a blender and turn it and come up with a victory. And I think the member countries really finally agreed on that and I was very relieved that we came to that level. Certainly from having taken part as well as the journalists watching and reporting on the events last week. It was certainly a dramatic week and I can also confirm to the audience that a lot of people were up very late on I think it was the Tuesday night going into the Wednesday really to find a deal. Let's look forward now a little bit so I think everybody is now fairly aware of what happened in Geneva last week but for the postal operators here in the room what do they have to do next? What happens next? Do people suddenly have to go back now from Amsterdam and panic and start doing lots of things? What's the process perhaps you could explain? Well, I'm talking to the converter. They know what to do. What happens here is this is the rates. This is a commercial rates between member countries. How do we compensate each other when we send parcels and packets to one another? The fundamental thing which here I think we're trying to protect as we craft this thing is to maintain first of all certain principles. The principle is that UPU is certainly a multilateral organisation. It is not a treaty organisation and therefore you have to get the consensus of 192 countries to be able to come to agree on certain things. So what is important for me is that going forward the rates we have come up with must now be adopted. Before I was interrupted by this phone, sorry, my apologies again, I was coming to the point that we need to ensure that this is a treaty and we must respect it and that the principle for me is that number one, it's an intergovernmental organisation. Number two, it is a multilateral system and number three, it must not forget the founding principles and objectives for which this organisation was established. That is universal service. We must be able to address the needs of every citizen on this planet. The reasons why our targets were so low to begin with was to ensure universality, to ensure access to every citizen, the prices were kept up to two kilograms so that in the olden days it was a communication organisation. So that the citizens of this world can be able to have access. Now, that changed over time. When the e-commerce came in and the category of mail of two kilograms now started carrying commercial goods, that's when the dynamics changed. So now, with this new principle, we still want to maintain the universality and keep the prices of universal service products to be accessible to citizens. Number two, the commercial goods, this is where the countries have now come to, we have to fundamentally shift from the traditional way we used to settle our time reduce. We are now moving to a new area where it's going to be self-declared rates. What this means is that from the beginning of 2021, going forward, we didn't want to do it overnight. We wanted to do it in a structured manner so that we can be able not to create shocks in the market of the customs. So it was incremental, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. We are going to have incremental increases to be able to meet that 70% of the domestic tariffs of every country. What this means for our colleagues here is that you need to know first of all your domestic tariffs. Some of our tariffs were not designed really for commercial purposes, so you have to rethink that when you go back home. They are meant for social services. I know South Africa and many other countries raised this matter very seriously, that developing countries' tariffs are not designed for commercial purpose. So now they have to look at that critically and make sure that they set the right tariffs. So first of all, we were trying to protect the citizens and the customers and the clients by not creating one short thing. I think it's only the United States of America who requested for what is called a dual system of fast-track. They have other political agendas for this reason or commercial reasons for that matter, but they took a strategic decision they wanted in July next year. I think probably, but this is not... We have opened that close, not only for US, but literally any country that can be able to use to play that. So therefore, the posts in this room and more generally the world's postal operators certainly need to do a lot over the coming months. As you just said, they need to look at their domestic tariffs. They need to think about how they can adapt the international... They have to adjust. They have to really prepare themselves for the new rates. This is what I'm saying. So more generally, what you just said, of course, is that the world is changing. E-commerce is nothing new. Everybody here in the room experiences E-commerce, the massive growth of parcels every day. So taking perhaps a longer view to the future, what do you see as the main, let's say, the opportunities, but also the challenges for the world's postal operators to adapt to this dramatically and rapidly changing world of, let's say, E-commerce where mail, of course, is becoming less and less important in many countries? Well, I think, colleagues, we all understand this industry very well. It's an old institution with old rules and regulations and we require every four years to make changes. The problem we are facing is that the pace of change in the industry and the dynamics in society is such that a four-year cycle, first of all, is not desirable. That's why we came up with every mid-term congress every two years. That was a proposal which we got to Istanbul to see that our decision cycle first of all can be shortened. That's one thing I was going to recommend. The second thing is that we need wider reform of the union. We have been up to now. UPU was a UN organisation dealing specifically only with the designated operators. That has been for the century and that's up to now. But let's be frank to one another here. We have just found from statistics and data in UPU that all the UPU member countries put together hold less than 30% of the global market. Where is the rest? The rest is with the private sector. Now, we want to ask ourselves does it make any more sense to continue making UPU only specifically for designated operators or the whole entire postal industry? I have one challenge with that. I don't throw this men and women from the postal sector who have worked 145 years to develop a system under the bus. This is their union. There are standards and systems and procedures and investment they have made over the years. But the private sector came 20, 30 years ago and now have a 70% of the traffic. We have to face that reality and ask ourselves can we sustain UPU as only designated operators in business? The answer is no. Now, the question is the same very countries here are dealing with those private sectors at their national levels. The governments have opened up the market for them. They are working with them. The DHLs are working with us. Now, the question is do you think it's time we ask these guys to come through the front door, come to the UPU, just like IOTU and then they pay for the services not to come and wish it individual with you but to come and then you people now set the tariffs and the terms and conditions and what they are going to come yourselves and then the UPU now represent the global postal industry. That is the proposal which is in our strategic plan and which was adopted by the ministers in Addisawa last year. We have ran seven regional round tables and we are coming with the crafting of the next vision of 2030 for the union. That is the document which is going to come to next Congress and if that passes then it would mean then opening the UPU to the wider sector. I want to hear the views of these members. I'll let it later on that. The other thing which I find very interesting is the other reform which I want to leave the stage very soon but the other reform which I find critical which all of you are familiar with is the contribution model system of this union. We have done with the reform on the structural reforms. We have done the reforms on the representation on the POC council I remember last time. We have done the one on timing reduce now. The next thing is the contribution model which has always been also been avoided and delayed. This we are going to bring it to the table this October and February and then of course to the Congress in Abidjan and I want a solution to that problem before I leave the stage. The last one but not least one is of course the other things that I really want to do with. The quorum issue. Our quorum system is really outdated and it gives us a lot of problems all the time. The question of asking some of our rules require a physical even sending your documents by physically alone but that itself we're electronic age range. So there are things that need to change and finally I want to say that e-commerce, financial service and digital space is where we need to compete if we are going to survive in the future. Any post office which is analog or which is going to deal with the traditional system if you think you are going to survive, forget it. You are not in that area because the countries, the society, the citizens of this planet are not there. So modernize the post office. I have been to Kazakhstan recently, I must say if they are here. I have seen a 21st century post office now going to robotics and what is called a drone system. That is where we need to be. So you have quite an agenda for reform for changes in fact a transformation of the entire postal system opening up the UPU to private carriers perhaps in the future if the vote is accepted. You just mentioned the planet. Now of course talking of the planet there is one big issue out there which is in a sense much bigger than all of us than that is the planet. I am talking of course about sustainability I am talking about climate change and thinking of the worldwide protests that took place not only last week but over the last year or so. From the perspective of the postal sector and the postal operators what can the posts do to address these challenges? Are the posts doing enough? Have they done enough so far? What more can be done? Thank you very much. I think colleagues, the planet Earth is the only place we live in and it is the responsibility of the citizens on this planet to be able to protect it. We have gone way beyond this capacity of this planet to sustain itself the present day business social type of things continue. So, UPU is very very much aware of the challenges and we have been for the last couple of years been working on programmes and activities to reduce our carbon footprint on us. We were trying to get away from the diesel vehicles driven vehicles we are going to electronic and cleaner energy systems we have gone paperless we don't cut trees anymore we have a big voice we have produced stumps and created awareness in societies all over the globe to be able to be actually the advocates and ambassadors for the planet Earth. So I think we will continue to reinforce those and of course as you are aware some countries have put money on the table like Japan and others for the disaster risk management programmes which I want to thank them for. So if we can be able to get ourselves really that consciousness is very important that all of us take responsibility for what we do it is everyone if we contribute to sustaining a clean energy clean way of doing things planting trees I think that is a responsibility for us UPU is doing a good job on that already but I want to encourage my colleagues to contribute to that. Thank you. Derek, do we have time for questions from the floor at all? I would like to therefore open it up to questions from the floor to Mr Hussain Do we have any questions from anybody of a general nature for the UPU for Mr Hussain? I think we have a few minutes. Well, thank you. Yes, we do have one. Let's take the next one. I think the gentleman in the second row on the left here, the microphone is just coming to you. If you would like to tell us your name in your organisation please. Good morning, Harold Fyber from Brussels with us from Peru. What are the next steps? We are just beginning to model a new business. There are a lot of exercises. Being on time has driven postal services and e-commerce to be abusive with environment. So you get a lot of boxes a lot of transit in order to get on time and the tendencies are to be more responsible with the plan. So what are the next steps? We are maybe a couple of steps behind the commercial postal services but we have the opportunity to see what they are doing wrong and what to do better than them in order to be ahead of them. So what are the next steps? Can I answer this question please? I will answer as you ask questions. First of all I want to spectrally have a different opinion on the private sector doing better than us. The private sectors are using airlines to carry the mail and we are using airlines and the airlines create a lot of what you call gas. So they have no advantage over you. There is nothing they do different than what we do in terms of supply chain. What I want to say is this what more can we do? First of all is just to be aware that the staff in your organization should be climate conscious. This is the point. If we are addressing this particular issue switch off the electricity when you don't need them. Clean up your organizations, plant trees and make sure that you don't go digital to avoid this. There are many small things we can do. So to me that is where I think we need to put a little more emphasis. Of course globally we can work on strategic global issues and how to address these UPS during those programs and activities and then we can be able to contribute. We are not the only ones. The supply chain we are not dealing with it. There are other sectors industries who are involved in this matter which also have to play their role so that we can all address this thing together. Do we have any more questions from the floor from Mr Hussain at the moment? Please keep it very short. Thomas Rogan. Hello, Thomas Rogan. I was in the Geneva convention and to be honest on Monday and Tuesday it looked really really bad and then we saw the emails coming in it's going to get better and better like three o'clock we saw it going the right way. So I would like the UPU and our SG to make a compliment of a diplomatic effort they did and I want to congratulate you on that. Thank you very much. Actually I received a lot of accolates and Tamsubiro got a lot of praise for this but we are very humble about this. We are your humble servants and we don't want to take any credit for what happened in Geneva. I say it was a victory for member countries. Without your agreement our ideas would not have been for true. I think there was goodwill at the end once everyone played their role. Of course it is our job as a director general I do not want this union to collapse on my hands after 145 years and what we did in Geneva last week really we gave UPU a new lease of life. We are at the brink of falling apart it will have been a disruption of our global proportion in our supply chain monument and the citizens of this world completely UPU may have been a different thing altogether but the decisions we took in Geneva I would say really is unprecedented and I think we saved the union last week and we have a stronger union going forward this is my message to all of Enold West. Thank you Thank you very much Thank you very much Thank you very much