On 6 October 2016, Thailand was re-elected to the Postal Operations Council (POC) of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) for the term 2017-2020 during the 26^th UPU Congress in Istanbul, Turkey. Having received 102 votes from the 192 UPU member countries, Thailand won one of the 40 seats in the POC.

Thailand’s third consecutive successful election bid to the POC underlines the continuous trust of UPU member countries’ in us as re-election for current members is a far greater challenge than election for non-members. According to the Rules of Procedure of the POC, at least one third of the current POC members (14 out of 40 countries) with the least number of votes shall be removed after the election and replaced by non-members countries, even if the latter received fewer votes than the former.

Being a member of the POC allows Thailand to participate in the discussions, deliberations and votes on various postal matters that affect all UPU member countries, in particular the revision of postal regulations. Moreover, POC members can contribute to improving international postal service to meet customers’ needs more efficiently, which will ultimately result in the improvement of the postal service in Thailand. In addition, it is a great opportunity to promote Thailand’s role in the international arena, as well as to foster our cooperation in postal matters and the exchange of knowledge with other member countries.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs contributed significantly to Thailand’s successful bid for the POC. Apart from supporting the campaign through diplomatic channel in advance, representatives from the Ministry were part of the Thai delegation (which also included representatives from the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society and Thailand Post) that actively pursued the campaign during the Congress in Istanbul as well.

In addition to Thailand, the countries elected to the POC for the term 2017-2020 were Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cuba, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, United States of America and Uruguay.