The 5th Meeting of the ECO Postal Authorities was held in Islamabad, on June 22-23, 2009. The representatives of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkey, as well as the representatives of the ECO Secretariat participated in the meeting.
His Excellency Muhammad Afzal Sindhu, Minister of State, Government of Pakistan, inaugurated the Meeting. He underlined the continued significance of postal services and stressed further enhancement of postal cooperation among the ECO member States. He said this would contribute to providing reliable and quality postal services to the people of the region. The ECO Secretary General Khurshid Anwar, dilated on the considerable potential of post and communication in the region.
Mr. Mohammad Ahmad Mian, Federal Secretary/Director General Pakistan Post welcomed the participants. He underlined the significance of the meeting, its aims and objectives, and expressed hope that it would carry forward cooperation among the ECO countries in important areas of post and communications.
The Meeting took decisions on a range of subjects, including enhancement of the role of the private sector, development of postal financial services, postal training and capacity building, issuance of Common Stamps, ECO Postman Fast Walking Competition, and enhancement of cooperation with international postal institutions.
The Meeting thanked Iran for offering to host a Regional Workshop on postal privatization in Tehran in early August 2009 and the Republic of Turkey for offering to host a Workshop on establishing linkages between postal financial services of the Member States in Ankara in October 2009.
The participants agreed to issue a Common Stamp on the occasion of the 11th ECO Summit to be held in 2010 in Pakistan, as it was done for the 10th ECO Summit in 2009. A philatelic seminar and exhibition were also agreed to be organized on the sidelines of the Summit.
The Meeting also agreed to declare Pakistan Postal Staff College as ECO Postal College (ECO-PC). The Meeting designated Istanbul airport in Turkey and Imam Khomeini airport in Iran as regional hubs for postal transit among ECO countries as also between the ECO Member States and other countries. A regional study was agreed to be conducted on development of postal cooperation among the member states.
It was also agreed that an ECO contact group be convened on the sidelines of UPU meetings. It would be hosted and chaired by the country chairing the COM Meeting.
The 6th meeting of ECO postal authorities will be held in the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2010.
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