The annual session of the Consultative and Executive Council (CEC) of the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal (UPAEP) was held last 22-24 April in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo, the organisation's headquarters city, chaired by Wagner Moreira of Brazil. The CEC session as preceded on the two previous days by adjacent meetings of namely the Postal Regulation Forum, Technical Co-operation Colloquium and Strategy Colloquium, and the most recent meetings of the working groups (WGs).
As this was the last CEC meeting before the 21st UPAEP Congress, scheduled for August in Santiago, Chile, the work mainly focused on preparing proposals for the Congress, produced beforehand and the result of work by the various UPAEP WGs. The groups which produced and submitted for CEC approval the most proposals were: Technical Co-operation (WG TC), chaired by Costa Rica; Strategy Planning (WG SP), chaired by Chile; and Future UPAEP Development (WG FD), chaired by Portugal.
Standing out among the numerous proposals presented for CEC approval by each of the WGs are the proposals to streamline technical co-operation instruments and resources provided by the UPAEP (specifically funds meant for technical co-operation), revision of the UPAEP's strategic mission and vision and its future strategy plan and, in the scope of WG FD, the proposals to harmonise the Acts, the survey of the UPAEP’s legal acquis with the respective validity correspondence, the proposal to set up a WG to co-ordinate UPAEP members on the occasion of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress and reorganisation of the UPAEP structure.
The CEC is also empowered to approve the UPAEP budget. The 2009 session also had to approve a measure for recourse to the UPAEP reserve fund, given that due to the global crisis and exchange deviations between the Uruguayan peso and American dollar a deficit was verified vis-à-vis the 2008 budget. The fund therefore had to be used to cover the salaries of the UPAEP General Secretariat’s personnel (who are paid in dollars). The debate on the budget ceiling for the next cycle should be approved in the Congress, but for the time being the CEC approved the 2010 budget with the addition of 90,000 dollars taken from the reserve fund.
Finally, and also in the scope of preparations for the 21st Congress, the CEC approved the authorities for the Congress: Chile will hold the Congress presidency as it is the host country; Brazil and Spain will be vice-chairs as the host countries of the previous and next congresses, respectively. Argentina will head the Editing Committee, whose members will be Peru, Paraguay and Ecuador, which will be vice-chair following the withdrawal of Costa Rica. Panama will head the Committee on Verification of Powers, with the Antilles as vice-chair and Mexico and the USA as members. Paul Raynaud of Canada was appointed from a list of former postal officials to be Dean of the Congress; he had recently announced his retirement from the Canadian postal service.
