50th Anniversary of Asia Pacific Postal Union April 01,2012.

Commemorative Postage Stamp on 50^Th Anniversary of Asian – Pacific Postal Union April 1, 2012:- The Asian Pacific Postal Union (Appu0 is an inter-governmental organization of 33 postal administrations of the Asia-Pacific region. APPU is affiliated to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) which is a specialized agency of the United Nations. The purpose of the APPU is to extend, facilitate and improve postal relations between member countries and to promote cooperation in the field of postal services.

Brief History:- The idea of a restricted union in this part of the world came up first in the late 1950s. In order to give a concrete shape to the idea, after informal discussions, the Philippines government sent through diplomatic channel the invitations to 18 countries for a roundtable in Manila on 10-23 January 1961. Among the countries invited were Afghanistan, Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The roundtable drew up the Asian Oceanic Postal Convention.

The Convention was to come into force on 1 April 1962. On that date, we formed a union among ourselves called “Asian Oceanic Postal Union” which later on was renamed as the actual “Asian-Pacific Postal Union” by the 4^th AOPU Congress held in Yogyakarta in 1981. We then established our headquarters in Manila with Mr. Enrico Palomar, Postmaster General of the Philippines as our first Director. The headquarters was relocated to Bangkok in 2002.

In due course others countries of the Asia-Pacific region joined this regional postal union making it today an inter-governmental body of 33 countries namely ; Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kiribati, Korea, Lao, Malaysia, Maldives, Mangolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

Organization:- The Congress, the Executive Council and the Bureau are the three organs of the Union. The main functions of these three organs are:

Congress:- The Congress is the supreme organ of the Union and composed of representatives of member countries. The representatives of the member countries of the Union meet in Congress not later than two years after holding of each Universal Postal Congress in order to revise the Acts of the Union, if necessary, and to consider, as necessary, other postal problems of common interest to the member countries.

The APPU Congress were held as follows:

1^st AOPU Congress in Manila, Philippines                                 in 1965

2^nd AOPU Congress in Kyoto, Japan                                        in 1970

3rd AOPU Congress in Melborne, Australia                             in 1975

4th AOPU Congress in Yogyakarta, Indonesia              in 1981

5th AOPU Congress in Bangkok, Thailand                               in 1985

6th AOPU Congress in Rotorua, New Zealand             in 1990

7th AOPU Congress in Singapore                                             in 1995

8th AOPU Congress in Tehran, Iran                                         in 2000

9th AOPU Congress in Seoul, Korea                                        in 2005

10th AOPU Congress in Auckland, New Zealand                     in 2009

Executive Council:- The Executive Council (EC) comprises all the member=countries of the Union with a quorum of the majority. To ensure the continuity of the work of the Union in the intervals between Congresses, the Executive Council meets in principle once each year. The functions of the Executive Council are:

(a)                To perform any duty assigned to it by a Resolution of the Congress;

(b)               To lay down the international postal service rules which shall provide for details necessary for the operation of the international postal service between the member-countries;

(c)                To maintain contacts with postal administration of the member-countries of the Union with a view to improving the postal service;

(d)               To prescribe rules for the administration of the Bureau and to supervise the activities of the Bureau;

(e)                To review and approve the annual budget and accounts of the administrative section prepared by the Bureau in the intervals between Congresses;

(f)                 To make useful contacts with the various organs of the Universal Postal Union, with the Restricted Unions or with other specialized agencies of the United Nations with special interests in the area and, if necessary, to appoint representatives to conference of such organization;

(g)                To conclude agreements on behalf of the Union with the Universal Postal Union and other restricted Unions and international organizations with regard to such matters as technical co-operation with the concurrence of at least two-thirds of the members of the Union. The Council may authorize the Director of the Bureau to execute such agreements;

(h)                To assemble, prior to each Universal Postal Congress, in order to exchange and harmonize their views; and

(i)                  To make necessary steps, with the agreement of the majority of the members of Union, provisionally to carry out such other administrative acts which are not covered by he Acts of the Union and cannot await the next Congress for the settlement.

Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Executive Council;- are elected by the first Executive Council meeting convened immediately after the holding of the Congress at the same venue. In the normal course the chairmanship shall devolve by right on the host country of Congress.

Bureau:- The Bureau, formerly the Central office, serves as a medium of liaison, information, inquiry and training for the member-countries of the Union. The Bureau is composed of the administrative section and the training section. The Bureau is composed of a Director and such other staff as the union may require. The Bureau provides the secretarial for meetings of the union, jointly with the postal administration of the country where each meeting is held. The Bureau is under the general supervision of the Executive Council.

The Bureau provides training facilities and advisory services in the training section to improve postal services within Asia and the Pacific. This training section is administered by a Governing Board, chaired by the head of the host administration of the Bureau (Thailand). The governing Board meets at least once each year in the country where the Executive council will hold its meeting. The training section of the Bureau is known as the Asian Pacific Postal College.

Director of APPU Bureau is chosen, from among qualified postal officials, by the Executive Council or in Congress year by Congress. The tenure of office is fixed by the body which selects the Director.

The Director of APPU Bureau is its legal representative in all functions performed by the Bureau pursuant to the Acts of the Union and the decision of Congress of the Union. The Director represents the Union in the international conferences regarding postal service where representation of the Union is required.

Asian Pacific Postal College:- The Asian Pacific Postal College (APPC), formerly the Asian and Oceanic Postal Training School (AOPTS) and the Asian Pacific Postal Training Centre (APPTC), was established on 10 September 1970 in Bangkok following the recommendation of the first Congress of the Asian Pacific Postal Union (then the Asian and Oceanic Postal Union) held in Manila in 1965.

APPC was established with assistance from UPU and contribution from UNDP in the form of expert/consultant services, fellowships and equipment. The Government of Thailand generously provided the necessary premises for APPC.

APPC represents an outstanding example of international cooperation in the field of postal training. APPC has trained more than 5,000 postal managers from various postal administrations in the Asia-Pacific region and from the African continent.

APPC provides professional training in relevant areas covering international post, quality of service, sales and marketing, postal operations, postal planning and modernization, human resource management, information technology, business management, financial management etc. APPC provides external training programs in various countries. They are tailor-made programs designed to suit the specific needs of requesting administrations.

APPC organizes seminars and workshops by UPU, related organizations and postal administrations.

On 50^th anniversary of Asian-Pacific Postal Union (APPU), Pakistan Post is issuing a Commemorative Postage Stamp of Rs.8/- denomination on April 1, 2012.