Address by Mr. Thomas E. Leavey, Director General of the International Bureau
of the Universal Postal Union (UPU),

Your Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour for me to participate in the 16th Plenipotentiary Conference of the ITU, and to have this opportunity to speak on behalf of the Universal Postal Union. I would like to personally thank Mr. Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General, for his kind invitation to me and to the UPU to take part in the work of your organization's highest-ranking body.

I would also like to extend to all of you gathered here in this splendid conference hall at the Palais des Congrès in Marrakesh, my most cordial greetings. I am confident that the outcome of this Conference will fully live up to the expectations of both your member countries and the international community at large.

Relations between the ITU and the UPU have a long and fascinating history. Both were born from the same idea in the second half of the 19th century. Both took root in the capital of the Swiss Confederation. And both followed the same path for many decades before a slow but gradual separation occurred, brought on by technological advances in the communications sector, by increased specialization and by the new social and economic order developing throughout the world.

Although this separation is quite obvious on an operational level, the process has also had a beneficial effect on a different level. It has allowed the telecommunications and postal sectors to control their own destinies. In many parts of the world, they have been able to initiate, through basic structural and management reform, rapid development in a particularly demanding market that is crucial to the world's technological, social, economic and cultural development.

One trait that we have traditionally shared is that our two sectors often remain under the same governmental authority, with supervisory and regulatory bodies coming under the same ministries. The ministers and other top government officials here at the conference can attest to that.

But there are other connections as well. Both the ITU and UPU are facing the effects of liberalization, while at the same time having to maintain universal service obligations. We both have requirements stemming from the GATS agreements of the World Trade Organization to fulfill. And postal and telecommunications organizations have recognized the need to be more commercial and to better serve the needs of their customers.

Both the ITU and UPU have been active in the field of technical cooperation and in the reform of organizational structures, often in cooperation with the World Bank or other development banks.

Many of the new postal products and services, such as public key infrastructure, hybrid mail, online banking and funds transfers are employing the same technologies as in the telecommunications sector.

These initiatives lead me to believe that there will continue to be significant opportunities for cooperation between posts and telecommunications.

Let me give you a concrete example. As part of an "e-post" programme, the ITU and UPU are already working together on a telekiosk project in Bhutan, with the goal of bringing digital and Internet technologies to rural populations. This joint initiative could soon be expanded to other countries and continents.

Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished delegates,

The International Telecommunication Union is playing a leading role in preparations for the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva and in Tunis.

The Universal Postal Union, along with other international organizations of the United Nations system, will take an active part in this Summit.

I am pleased to inform you that a segment of the next UPU Strategy Conference in Geneva at the end of October this year will be devoted to the important debate on the postal sector's role in the information society. I would like to reiterate my thanks to Mr. Utsumi for having kindly accepted our invitation to address the Conference and to present his vision for the telecommunications sector.

Both the current ITU Secretary General and his predecessor, Mr. Pekka Tarjanne, were also involved, at certain points in their careers, in managing postal affairs. Knowledge of these two communication sectors is an undeniable asset and provides a foundation for closer cooperation in the future.

I would be very pleased if you took my remarks today as a call for even more collaboration between our two organizations. I strongly believe that by working together, we can help to strengthen not only the ITU and UPU, but also society as a whole, especially the millions of consumers throughout the world.

In closing, I extend to you once more my best wishes for a successful Plenipotentiary Conference here in Marrakesh. I will no doubt have the pleasure of meeting with you during my few days here.

Thank you for your attention.