Do U know? Asia Pacific Postal Union(APPU)

Asia Pacific Postal Union (APPU)

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, in August 1960, after informal discussions, the Philippine government sent through diplomatic channels invitations to 18 countries for a roundtable in Manila on January 10 – 23, 1961. Among the countries invited were Afghanistan, Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam. The roundtable drew up the Asian-Oceanic Postal Convention.
The convention was to come into force on 1 April 1962 if at least eight countries had ratified it. By then, however, only four had done so – China, Korea, the Philippines and Thailand. All same, on that date, they formed a union among themselves and established its headquarters in Manila with Mr. Palomar as its first Director.
In due course others countries of the Asian Pacific Region joined this restricted union making it today an inter-governmental body of 31 countries of the region.
The purpose of APPU is clearly laid down in Article 1.2 of the Constitution. The article reads as:
“The purpose of the Union is to extend, facilitate and improve postal relations between member countries and to promote cooperation in the field of postal services.”
Organisation
The Congress, the Executive Council and the Bureau are the three organs of the Union. The main roles of these three organs are given below.
a) Congress
Congress, being the supreme organ of the Union, is composed of representatives of member countries. The representative 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.
b) Executive Council
To ensure the continuity of the work of the Union in the intervals between Congresses, the Executive Council meets, in principle once each year, unless the majority of member countries decide otherwise.
The functions of the 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 organizations;
(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 accordance with the provisions of Article 115, paragraph 2; 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 the 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 called after every APPU Congress. In the normal course that chairmanship will devolve by right on the host country of Congress. The present officers (elected after Seoul Congress in 2005) are Korea as Chairman and India as Vice-Chairman.
c) Bureau
The Bureau 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 secretariat for meetings of the Union, jointly with the postal administration of the country where each meeting is held. The Director of the 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 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, composed as per Article 111 of the General Regulations of the Asian Pacific Postal Union. The training section of the Bureau is known as the Asian Pacific Postal College.

Asian Pacific Postal College

The Asian Pacific Postal College, formerly the Asian Pacific Postal Training Centre 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.
To date, APPC has trained more than 5,000 postal managers from various postal administrations in the Asian Pacific region and from the African continent.
Member Countries
Afghanistan Australia Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Darussalam Cambodia China Fiji India Indonesia Iran Japan Lao Korea, Republic of Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nauru Nepal New Zealand Pakistan Papua New Guinea Philippines Singapore
Solomon Islands Sri Lanka Thailand Tonga Vanuatu Vietnam