KUWAIT: Arab countries are issuing a postage stamp in honor of Gaza, state representatives agreed during a meeting for the 44th Session of the Arab Permanent Postal Committee on Thursday. The stamp is aimed at showing full Arab solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, which has been subjected to a vicious war by the Zionist occupation forces since the Oct 7, 2023, which killed more than 23,000 people and injured about 60,000, said Acting Assistant Undersecretary of Kuwait’s Ministry of Communications for the postal sector, Abdullah Al-Humaida.

This came in a statement made by Humaida to Kuwait’s state media, KUNA, during his chairmanship of the delegation of the State of Kuwait participating in the meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the general secretariat of the Arab League under the presidency of Egypt. Humaida said Kuwait will be applying for membership in the Universal Postal Union’s board of directors at its meeting scheduled to be held in the United Arab Emirates in 2025.

A committee has already been set up to prepare and organize the candidacy file and obtain the necessary Arab and international support, he added. He said the postal sector plays a very important role and provides essential services to the public and confirmed the keenness of the state of Kuwait to actively participate in all meetings and events that contribute to the development of the sector and its services. The Universal Postal Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations that aims to organize and improve postal service throughout the world and to ensure international collaboration in this area.

Postal excellence

Thursday’s Arab Permanent Postal Committee meeting discussed a number of topics related to joint Arab work in the postal sector. Participants also reviewed the results of the Universal Postal Union’s fourth Extraordinary Congress, which was held in Riyadh last October. Another topic on the agenda was the 2024 Arab postal service pricing system for documents, parcels and urgent mail. Humaida hailed the great achievements accomplished by the Arab states, including winning titles of excellence in the Universal Postal Union’s integrated index for postal development, which provides the most comprehensive view on current global postal development.

The committee also discussed the regional development plan for the Arab region for the period from 2022 to 2025 in the field of mail in preparation for submitting a report on the results of its work and recommendations to the executive office and to officials at the next meeting of the Council of Arab Ministers of Telecommunications and Information Technology to be held in Abu Dhabi next week.

At the opening of the meeting, Dr Khaled Wali, Director for ICT Development of the Arab League in Egypt, stressed the need to use modern technologies, train people and introduce reforms that will improve the quality of postal service in the region and provide comprehensive modern services that keep pace with the enormous technological development in the field of communications and information technology.

He explained that “the successive developments in communications and information technology require us more than ever to join hands in order to successfully overcome the challenges surrounding this vital sector.” He added that the process of improving this sector should consider all Arab countries, including those that are less fortunate in terms of development. It must also adopt a comprehensive view, with the aim of integrating the Arab postal system the global postal system, through continued international cooperation and communication with other regional groups.

Wali praised the Arab efforts to support the Arab post system, which comes within the framework of the Council of Arab Ministers of Telecommunications and Information Technology and the Arab Permanent Postal Committee, pointing to the great efforts by the Universal Postal Union to support and keep up with the joint Arab work in the postal sector. — KUNA