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Azerbaijan marks World Postal Day

09 October 2008 13:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ilhama Isabalayeva â€“ APA-Economics. Azeri Post, a state-owned postal network unit under Azerbaijanâ€™s Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies, has today marked the World Postal Day.
Gambar Beybalayev, Director of General of Azeri Post, said the country has expanded relations with the Universal Postal Union over the past years and improved international and in-country mail sending services.
According to him, there are about 6 000 postal officers in the country.
He said that nearly 400 post points were built in the country over the past five years.
â€œThe World Bank provides assistance to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan for the development of postal system,â€ he added.
The Universal Postal Union was established in Berne (or Bern), Switzerland, on October 9, 1874. The union aimed to create and maintain a structure for the free flow of international mail around the world. World Post Day marks the anniversary of the unionâ€™s establishment.
In 1863, Montgomery Blair, Postmaster General in the United States of America, organized a conference of representatives from 15 European and American countries. During this conference, the delegates laid down a number of general principles for mutual agreements on international postal services but did not create an international postal agreement. On September 15, 1874, Heinrich von Stephan, a senior postal official in the North German Confederation (an area that now forms parts of Germany, Poland and Russia), opened a conference in Berne, Switzerland, with delegates from 22 countries. On October 9, 1874, the delegates signed the Treaty of Berne and established the General Postal Union.
The number of countries that were members of the General Postal Union grew rapidly and the unionâ€™s name was changed to the Universal Postal Union in 1878. In 1948, the Universal Postal Union became a specialized agency of the United Nations.