The UPU also took the opportunity at the Extraordinary Congress to launch its first State of the Postal Sector report, which identified a clear causal link between countries’ postal development and national economic growth, particularly in times of economic shocks and crises. The report compared postal development scores with the growth in real GDP and found a strong correlation between the levels of postal development and the intensity of post-pandemic economic recovery, meaning a well-functioning postal network led to greater economic recovery after the global health crisis. A calculation presented in the report clearly shows that, without postal services, a country’s GDP would fall by nearly 7%, highlighting postal services’ essential role in sustainable national economic performance
The UPU Director General said that the report’s findings should “serve as a clarion call for governments and other stakeholders
to partner with and invest in the growth of the postal sector.” He added: “Like many threads coming together to form a strong and resilient fabric, collaboration and partnerships will weave the fabric of our postal future.” The report also provided a comprehensive overview of the postal sector’s existing landscape, challenges, innovations, and potential avenues for the future. In Riyadh, the UPU recognized the countries that showed the most promising development over the previous year during a dedicated awards ceremony. Achieving the highest of 10 postal development levels in the UPU’s Integrated Index for Postal Development (2IPD) were Austria, France, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland, with the Swiss postal service achieving the highest 2IPD score for the seventh consecutive year in 2022. Acknowledged as rising stars for their standout, year-on-year postal development level increase were Oman, Slovenia, and Uzbekistan. Brazil, China, Estonia, Ethiopia and Morocco were acknowledged as postal development leaders in their respective regions.The Extraordinary Congress also provided a platform for the UPU’s Strategy Summit, which convened ministers, heads of postal regulators and postal CEOs to discuss the UPU’s strategy for 2026-2029 under the theme: “People, Progress and Purpose: The Next Chapter for the Postal Sector."