UPU helps improve postal services

The Accra Daily Mail - Accra, Ghana reports, "The Universal Postal Union (UPU), a United Nations specialized agency, the world's second-oldest international organization has over the past five years financed nearly 280 projects worldwide such as bringing postal services to outlying areas, primarily in least advanced countries."

"Through its Quality of Service Fund (QSF), the UPU has increased its postal development aid eight-fold, earmarking 60 per cent of its annual budget of more than $29 million for projects in developing countries."

"The QSF is financed from a supplement to dues paid to the UPU, by industrialized countries in particular. The dues system, managed by the UPU, is used to compensate member countries for the delivery of incoming international mail. In 2004, 6 billion postal items were sent beyond national borders."

"Predating the UN by seven decades, the UPU was founded in 1874, the second-oldest international organization after the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It is the primary forum for cooperation between postal services, setting the rules for international mail exchanges among its 190 members."

"Each year, 5 million employees process and deliver 430 billion domestic letter-post items, some six billion international items and more than 5.4 billion ordinary parcels. "

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