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72.

UPU as a Shining Example
of International Cooperation

ADDRESS
BY MR. VLADIMIR PETROVSKY
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA
AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION

Bern, 9 October 1999

Mr. Federal Councillor,
Mrs. Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Canton of Bern,
Director-General of the Universal Postal Union,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I
am deeply honoured to have been invited to address this Assem-
bly of representatives of member countries of the Universal Postal
Union on the occasion of its 125th anniversary. Allow me first of
all to convey to you the good wishes of the Secretary-General of the United
Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan and to say on his behalf that the United Nations sys-
tem as a whole admires the vital work of the UPU, which according to its
Constitution, was created "with a view to developing communications between
people by the efficient operation of the postal services, and to contributing to
the attainment of the noble aims of international collaboration in the cultural.
social and economic fields".

The 125th anniversary of the foundation of the Universal Postal Union
provides me with the opportunity to pay tribute to the remarkable longevity of

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