The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is a United Nations specialized agency headquartered in the Swiss capital, Bern. Founded in 1874 and celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2024, it is the primary forum for cooperation between postal sector players and helps to ensure a truly universal network of modern postal products and services.
The UPU connects 192 member countries, enabling the free circulation of postal items across a single, interconnected postal territory. By setting standards, harmonizing policies, promoting innovation, and building capacities of postal operators, the UPU ensures efficiency and reliability of postal exchanges and facilitates the provision of inclusive and accessible communication and social services to communities worldwide. Through its network and unparalleled reach, the UPU not only contributes to socioeconomic growth but also drives technological advancements, sustainable development, and inclusive trade.
With its forward-looking vision, the UPU’s strategy also addresses today’s challenges, related to the rapid growth of e-commerce and the need to develop secure and inclusive digital solutions for all. By embracing innovation and promoting the development of cost-effective technological solutions, the Strategy aims to enhance postal security and digital transformation while also prioritizing environmental sustainability. The UPU member states have also recently adopted a policy to increase and deepen its engagement with wider postal sector players, outside of the UPU network of designated operators, with a view to bolstering the development of a truly interconnected, efficient, and universal postal service for all.
The UPU’s theme for its 150th year – “150 years of enabling communication and empowering peoples across nations” – recognizes this accomplishment and reinforces its commitment to serve all peoples for the decades and centuries to come.
To celebrate this milestone, the UN Postal Administration is issuing three sheets of nine stamps each.
