A new building to house the Secretariat of the U.P.U. is being inaugurated on 20th May, 1970 in Berne (Switzerland). The Universal Postal Union is one of the oldest International Organisation and among the largest. The Union was formed in 1874 in Berne (Switzerland) with 21 countries and after 95 years it has now a membership of 142 countries.

It has been recognised as a specialised agency of the U.N.O. The countries, which are members of the U.P.U., form a single postal territory in which freedom of transit of mails is guaranteed. The shifting of the U.P.U. headquarters to a new modern building signifies the rapid expansion in the activities of the U.P.U. in the last two decades. Originally convinced as a regulatory body for the exchange of international mail, the U.P.U. has progressively became an organ contributing to greater international co-operation and understanding.

This process could be said to have started in 1947 when the Executive and Liaison Committee was formed to function in between the plenipotentiary conferences of the Union which meet once in five years. This Committee, in addition to attending to the administrative functions, was entrusted with the task of carrying out technical studies for the benefit of the member countries of the Union. Since one of the objectives of the Union is the improvement of the postal services, the importance of this aspect of international co-operation was quickly realised with the result that a separate body for carrying out technical studies on postal matters, called the Consultative Committee for Postal Studies, was formed in 1957. This Committee has been carrying out studies on technical, economic and operational aspects of postal services.

The subjects vary from mechanisation of postal services to ascertaining the requirements of developing countries for modernising their postal services. As a natural corollary, the Universal Postal Union has also taken an active interest in technical co-operation and one of the aims of the Union enshrined in its Constitution is development of International Technical Co-operation. The inauguration of the new building to house the headquarters of the Unions is, therefore, an event of considerable importance than signifying the expanding activities of the Union. India had taken active interest in the work of this Union and as a member of the two organs, namely, the Executive Council and the Management Council of the Consultative Committee for the Postal Studies, India has contributed to the work of Union.

The Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department is, therefore, happy to commemorate the inauguration of the new building by the issue of a postage stamp. The stamp depicts a sketch of the new headquarters along with the symbol of the Universal Postal Union.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India