GENEVA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Universal Postal Union (UPU) said Tuesday it will hold an extraordinary congress in Geneva next week due to the concerns of some its members about the remuneration system for bulky letters and small packets.
The UPU's third Extraordinary Congress will take place from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26 in Geneva on the matter of postal remuneration rates, said David Dadge, UPU's Communications Manager at a UN briefing here.
Around 800 participants from over 100 countries and regions are expected to attend the congress.
Dadge said the UPU, founded in 1874, had held only two extraordinary congresses previously, in 1900 and in 2018.
He said that given the huge importance of e-commerce in the world, "the discussions could be considered as trade negotiations".
Remuneration rates are the tariffs paid by the sending country to the receiving country for the delivery of its post, said the UPU official.
The countries wanting a change in the remuneration have said the traditional route of the ordinary four-yearly congresses was taking too long.
"A solution needed to be found to ensure that tariffs were fair and reasonable for all concerned, including the less developed countries, which had traditionally paid less in postal remuneration rates," said Dadge.
There are three groups of countries around the proposals. One includes the United States that are dissatisfied with the current situation, a second group agrees that the system should be changed, but is happy with the current speed of change, said Dadge.
A third group is trying to ensure "the integrity of the postal network as a public good," which had been the reason for the foundation of UPU over a century previously, he said.
