Your excellences, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends! 

It is my great pleasure and honour to stand here in front of you today. This time last year the Government of the Republic of Slovenia confirmed me as a candidate for the position of Deputy Director General of the UPU International Bureau.

Allow me to outline the reasons behind my candidacy. 

First of all, we (and by “we” I mean Slovenia) love this organisation, we respect it and we have been its responsible and dedicated member ever since we joined the organisation as an independent country. 

Secondly, I am painfully aware of the challenges and changes ahead of us. As a responsible owner, we have successfully carried out the transformation of Slovenia’s DPO years ago. This process has brought me important and valuable experience that I will be able to use in my work as Deputy DG should l be elected.

Additionally, 23 years ago I entered this building for the first time. A lot has changed since then. Actually, huge changes have taken place inside this organisation and even bigger outside.

Only few industries are blessed with such a bright long-term future as ours. eCommerce is a blessing and the physical connection we have with our customers is one of our greatest added values. In my opinion, this is a foundation we need to build upon our future, no matter whether we have in mind delivery, financial, digital or social services.

But as mentioned before, the landscape in which we operate is changing a lot. Public postal operators are being privatized. It is a trend that is hard to avoid. This is a reason why many sensible topics are on our agenda, price policy among them. Remember the gentleman from IATA from the UPU High Level conference  who has said that the price discussions were stopped overnight.   

The same goes for the opening of our organisation. I cannot and wish not to conceal that personally I support the European approach to the UPU opening. A special working group should  be established at the upcoming Congress with very specific guidelines for its work. Without any detailed analyses and the evaluation of the impact of the opening on the UPU work and consequently that of its members, we cannot start any UPU opening processes as responsible owners.

The principles which will be at the very heart of my work − should I be given the opportunity to lead this organisation together with the elected DG  − are above all accountability, transparency and business ethics. As a representative of a small member country, I understand the struggles of small members and will be in a position to stand for their interests. 

Not to forget, all responsible members of the UPU from the smallest to the biggest have to keep in mind the universality of our organisation. Single postal territory should not be just a cliché. Every member should find its own way and the UPU should be here to support and help them.

As a result, I firmly believe I can bring a fresh, critical and objective approach to the work of the UPU, contributing greatly to addressing the challenges ahead of us. I will not stand on the way of successful and advanced members. But I do commit myself to facilitate the knowledge and best practise transfer to all those members that are in need of it.

 Should I be elected, it will be for a period of four years. I will run for another mandate only if your expectations for my first mandate have been satisfied.

 And last but not least, I cannot remember when we had so many candidates running for the DG and VDG, 6 altogether so far. That, of course, brings A HUGE RESPONSIBILITY to the members to choose the right one. That is why in closing my speech I congratulate all the candidates for their nomination and I wish the member countries to choose their preferred candidates responsibly and wisely.

Thank you for your attention and I wish you all a nice evening. 

Bern, 25 February 2020

Marjan OSVALD