Message from the Director General of the Universal Postal Union Thomas E. Leavey

World Post Day, 9 October 2001

On 9 October, we celebrate the commitment by the world's Posts to carry their customers' messages beyond geographical and national boundaries. The Universal Postal Union was founded on this day in 1874 to encourage collaboration and development within the international post. Today, the UPU's 189 member countries share a core mission: to provide quality universal service that fosters economic and cultural exchange worldwide.

The communications revolution has opened a vista of resources that lie beyond our own doorsteps. And we are increasingly taking advantage of these new opportunities. More people are travelling greater distances, and more often, to discover the world's diversity. Cultures previously isolated from each other can now share knowledge and technologies. From best business practices to scientific innovations, sports teams to agricultural improvements, the creations of international communication are richer than anything we could do alone. Much is said about the value of diversity. These new ideas " which benefit so many, in so many unexpected ways " prove this value in practice. We no longer see national borders as limits. We see them as opportunities.

Every post has a role to play in realizing this vision. The international Post speaks the 6800 languages of its customers and forms the largest physical distribution network in the world. It is dedicated to providing a secure, efficient, and economical way to transmit goods and ideas. The posts carry private thoughts to friends far away. They help businesses of every size reach and respond to their clients. They convey medicines to rural and under-served patients, and humanitarian aid in times of crisis. They bring the cultural gifts of individuals and populations to an international audience. By broadening our horizons, the Post is a powerful weapon against ignorance.

It is also a crucial, if often overlooked force for economic development. Serving as an intermediary between businesses and their customers for the exchange of goods, information and services, the Post acts as a wealth creator. It is one of the world's largest employers, with more than six million employees. By providing an information infrastructure in otherwise isolated areas, and by encouraging literacy and employment, the post is a force against poverty.
The UPU is committed to helping posts to achieve the full potential of their services, in order to meet the needs of the national and international business communities and of every single citizen. We are especially dedicated to helping posts in the least developed countries to realize their power as a force for development. In addition to providing a forum in which posts of all nations can share intelligence and technologies and harmonize regulations, the UPU has initiated contacts with international financial institutions " from the World Bank to regional and sub-regional banks " and other fund donors to raise their awareness of the need to support postal development. The UPU Quality of Service Fund, set to come into effect this year, has been created to improve the quality of the international postal network in a lasting way. Financed by resources from industrialized countries, the fund aims to bring developing countries additional resources to improve the quality of the various components of the international postal service.

As they pursue increased quality of service, national posts can learn much from the customers they serve. Just as a letter can evoke an exotic landscape for a reader thousands of miles away, just as entrepreneurs use the posts to cultivate new markets, posts themselves will discover new ways of doing business beyond their frontiers. Posts cannot afford to grow isolated or complacent. To continue to compete effectively, they must expand the range of their products and services. International and expedited mail, direct mail, hybrid mail, and financial services are just some of the vehicles in which posts can travel beyond their own "borders." Posts are also customers of each other. They should see the international system as a roadmap for growth, and a framework on which they all can build.

Vision is not a luxury. It is essential to the Posts' survival. On World Post Day 2001, I urge all posts to discover the opportunities that lie beyond their own horizons.

Thomas E Leavey