The annual session of the UPAEP Advisory and Executive Council was held in Montevideo on 23-26 May. The 22nd was marked by the meeting of the Technical Co-operation Working Group and the Technical Co-operation Colloquium. On the 23rd, the UPAEP Future Working Group met after that day's Council session.
Below are outlined some of the main subjects considered and decided on at the meeting:
- The Union?s personnel statute was approved, which for the time being will only be applied to eventual new staff. Regarding the current workers, a decision was made to suspend the amendment or derogation of standards that might affect their acquired rights, or which introduce increased privileges, until the 2007 Advisory and Executive Council, in which a legal opinion on those issues will be presented by the High Inspection Authority of Uruguay;
- Regarding the general reduction of the Union's costs, the last UPAEP Congress decided to carry out an exhaustive legal study on the impact of a reduction in the amounts paid by the Union to its retirees and pensioners, so as to avoid legal problems arising from any undue application of that measure. The result of the study was in favour of reducing the retirement and pension payments, with the Council making a determination to that end;
- As for the status of the Union member countries debt, a report was presented which indicated a drop in the total value of the debt as a result of the payment pacts signed by UPAEP and seven debtor postal administrations. Note that this situation is due to the application of Resolution II of the Rio de Janeiro Congress, which adopted a special time payment plan, with very advantageous measures for countries with debts owed the Union. Also in this regard, a decision was made to postpone the said Resolution as a way to include the only two countries that had not signed payment pacts;
- The Internal Regulation of the Advisory and Executive Council, updated per the provisions of the Rio de Janeiro Congress, was approved;
- Also approved were the 2006 budget and the draft budget for 2007, with the proper adjustments deriving from the Council work;
- The General Secretariat?s action plan for 2006 was approved, including the necessary adjustments deriving from decisions made by the Congress, specifically the determination of budget limits and a 15 percent reduction of the budget;
- As for the General Secretariat?s service missions for 2005, 2006 and 2007, the Council approved same, granting the Secretariat the power to establish its representation in service missions, depending on the importance of same and the needs of the Union;
- Results of the external audit for the 2004-2005 period were presented, as per the decision of the Rio de Janeiro Congress, as well as a report on conclusions of the audit concerning implemented measures and those to be implemented, according to the recommendations of the auditing firm; the General Secretariat pledged to correct the indicated situations;
- A decision was also made to set up a working group to examine issues involving the Union's finances, with the aim of finding a solution for existing problems such as, for example, the lack of ability by qualified technical personnel, paid by the General Secretariat for that purpose, to provide clear and transparent information;
- Presentations were given on the evolution of the work of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), specifically with regard to the term ''postal administration'' in the Acts of that Union, and to the activities carried out by Commission 1 (chaired by Portugal) of the UPU Postal Operations Council;
- Several co-operation agreements were signed, such as the Co-operation Agreement between UPAEP and other intergovernmental organisations and between UPAEP and postal operators (CTT-Correios de Portugal, Correos y Telégrafos de España and the French La Poste);
- Chile, which will host the next ordinary UPAEP Congress in 2009, gave a presentation on the organisation of the Congress;
- In the Technical Co-operation Colloquium various recommendations were issued concerning the Technical Co-operation Recommendation, which were included in the proposed Regulation, later approved by the Advisory and Executive Council. A decision was also made to introduce modifications in the Technical Co-operation Manual, as approved in the Regulation, to submit for consideration by the next Council, in 2007;
- The meeting of the Technical Co-operation Working Group, held before the said Colloquium, examined the proposed Technical Co-operation Regulation to present in the Colloquium;
- The UPAEP Future Working Group decided to include in the report to present to the Council the content of the work carried out by Portugal on the subject of working methods and decision making. The group also decided to hold two more working meetings during the current year; Portugal offered to organise the first of those meetings during this month of July.
The next meeting of the Advisory and Executive Council will be held in Montevideo on 11-16 June 2007. An extraordinary Congress of the Union will be held during the Council, and is scheduled for 15 June. The next ordinary UPAEP Congress will take place in Chile in 2009.
