Poste Italiane: Sarmi in Qatar for the 25th Universal Postal Congress
The Undersecretary for Economic Development, Massimo Vari, and the CEO of Poste Italiane,
Massimo Sarmi, were chosen to speak at the Ministerial Conference on key issues regarding
development in the postal sector.
Doha, 8 October 2012 - The CEO of Poste Italiane, Massimo Sarmi, is currently in Qatar taking
part in the 25th Universal Postal Congress (running from 24 September to 15 October) organized
by the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the United Nations agency for the postal sector.
At the Congress, the UPU’s highest decision-making body, there are over 1,200 participants from
the governments, regulatory authorities and postal operators in representation of the 192 member
countries. They meet every four years in a new location selected on a geographically alternating
basis, to agree upon strategic lines and adopt new provisions that will govern international letter
mail services, postal parcels and payments – both traditional and digital – for the following four
years.
Today they are holding the Ministerial Conference, where speakers will include government and
sector authorities addressing key issues regarding the postal world – from the role of ICT to
sustainability, socio-economic inclusion, and the postal market’s prospects for the next ten years.
More specifically, Italy, represented by the Undersecretary for Economic Development, Massimo
Vari, has been invited to give a presentation on the topic of sustainability in the postal sector during
this period of global financial crisis, while Massimo Sarmi has been asked to participate in the
discussion on the delicate topic of post offices’ role as facilitators in the process of social and
economic inclusion.
This year, for the first time, Italy was assigned the seat of Vice-Chair of the Congress, in
recognition of the efforts demonstrated by Poste Italiane in various areas of activity regarding
Union projects, as well as of the impressive results achieved over the last four years.
Poste Italiane has chaired both Committee 4 “Standards and Technology” of the Postal Operations
Council, and the UPU’s Telematics Cooperative since 2008, and has, in fact, made a mark in
promoting the development and use of new technology to create international and interoperable
digital services. Specifically, it contributed significantly to the completion of .post, the top-level
domain which will be associated with international and interoperable electronic postal services; this
is the first time a top-level domain will be assigned to a United Nations agency.
Moreover, in the area of financial services, Poste Italiane was given credit for having developed,
alongside Egypt Post, the first pilot project interconnecting two of the leading international
financial networks, Eurogiro and IFS (International Financial System of the UPU), with the goal of
extending coverage to a global scale in the postal financial network.
“The vote of confidence and appreciation received from the Universal Postal Union regarding such
a large-scale project,” states CEO Massimo Sarmi, “demonstrates that Italy is a reliable, respected,
experienced partner. I hope that this Congress will provide further motivation to keep up the
research in the field of digital postal services and will push all countries to share their know-how
and resources even more, in order to benefit the international postal community”.
The Doha Congress – where CEO Sarmi will be busy finalizing a number of important international
agreements in continuation of those recently signed with Russia, Albania, and Egypt – will also set
the stage for the re-delegation of representatives in the Union’s bodies: the Council of
Administration, which includes regulatory authorities; the Postal Operations Council (POC), which
includes postal operators from various countries; and the Consultative Committee, which consists
not only of members from both Councils, but also the sector’s most representative stakeholders.
Poste Italiane, member of the current POC, has resubmitted its candidacy for 2013-2016, in hopes
of providing continuity to the activities taken up over the last four years, and reinforcing its role in
contributing to Union decisions, on par with the world’s other leading postal operators.