 Distinguished audience of the 9th International Conference on Electronic Communication and Postal Services in the Digital Single Market. Ladies and gentlemen, greetings from the Universal Postal Union in Bern. I was unable to join you at this year's conference, unfortunately, but I trust you have had and will continue to have enriching and constructing debates all the same. The theme of today's session is Postal Market, Regulatory Framework and Prospects. The debate in the European Union in the past weeks and months has been and still is intense as far as postal regulation is concerned. One of the main issues for discussion is the necessity or not to regulate the cross-border parcel delivery market as a step forward in building the EU digital internal market. As the deputy director general of the UPU, I am not going to enter this very sensitive and complex discussion. However, it is clear to me that all the current debates in the EU and beyond show that the nexus between posts and e-commerce is the key topic for everybody, regulators, governments, postal operators and of course the UPU. So what exactly can the prospects be in the era of e-commerce? We can discuss about and speculate the possible development for hours on end to find common ground and realistic solutions. But most of all, we need to understand the current trends, identify the challenges ahead and develop strategies to anticipate them as far as possible. As policymakers, regulators and postal service providers, all of you are certainly eager to understand what role the postal services can play in this new era. In a time of economic and technological uncertainty and of high competition in the postal market, we need to step back, broaden our vision and view postal development from a global perspective. To make this possible, it is vital for postal sector stakeholders to be able to rely on a global monitoring and benchmarking tool. In order to provide key guidance to regulators, policy makers and postal service providers, the UPU has launched the first ever Global Postal Development Index, the so-called Integrated Index for Postal Development or 2IPD. The 2IPD is a composite index providing an overview of postal development around the world. This is based on the UPU's big data, official statistics and key surveys, which have been put together for the first time. In other words, 2IPD data insight relies on the greatest data integration ever conducted to measure the development of postal services on a global scale. The 2IPD will be published on a yearly basis. This unique index ranks 170 UPU member countries according to four main dimensions of postal development, the reliability of their postal services, the global reach of their postal networks, the relevance of their postal services, and the resilience of their postal business models. By launching this index, the UPU has a threefold aim, first to monitor excellence in postal infrastructure development, then to identify critical development gaps between UPU member countries, and finally to help our members share best practices and postal development knowledge. The postal development measured by the 2IPD gives the ranking you can see on this second graphic. This may come as a surprise, but 2016 global postal development ranking is led by Switzerland. Among the global top ten, we find six European Union countries. As you can see, all the EU countries in dark blue rank from the second position namely France to the 58th position with Portugal. As for our host country today, Greece, is ranked in the 37th position. You will also notice that seven EU countries rank from the 41st to the 58th positions. This shows just how diversely the EU postal services perform. So what can we learn from this? The countries doing well in scores and global ranking usually show the following characteristics. Their activities are diversified and or globalized. They exhibit an extremely reliable quality of service. They focus on developing sustainable business models and they benefit from steady e-commerce growth. The conclusion is that in order to improve their level of postal development, countries need to diversify their strategies. In today's market, global benchmarks have become the norm and the UPU's integrated index for postal development is one of them. As such, it can be used as a compass and a rudder to steer through these times of uncertainty and competition and avoid pitfalls. Postals can use it to develop strategies and that enhance the contribution of postal services to the economic and social infrastructure of their countries. Regulators can better identify the development challenges that postal services are facing and benefit from meaningful international comparisons. Global operators can benchmark their relative operational and business model strengths and weaknesses across different levels of economic development and geographies in order to improve their performance. As I mentioned before, this index will be published on a yearly basis. In the meantime, you can download the 2016 report from the UPU's website. We have also sent a certain number of copies directly to the conference center today so that you can read it without delay. And of course, we remain at the disposal of UPU member countries to develop country-specific customized presentations anytime they wish. The deficiencies and disparities identified will have to be solved through diversified approaches. We are here to advise countries in the necessary transformation. Reliability, reach, relevance and resilience, these four key words are the main ingredients of the two IPD recipes for postal excellences. But you have to combine these four arts in the right order, so to speak, if you want to precisely measure operational efficiency, internationalization of services, market competitiveness and business model adaptability. Those are key elements to be considered for a sound, balanced and efficient postal regulation and for a winning development strategy of the postal sector in industrialized or developing countries. This is what the UPU aims to help you with in your journey towards excellence in postal infrastructure. Distinguished audience, ladies and gentlemen, I hope that the two IPD and these four arts will inspire your discussions today and in the future and make them fruitful. I thank you for your attention and I wish you all the best.