Cuba denounces the Blockade at the 3rd Extraordinary Congress of the Universal Postal Union

The Cuban Vice-Minister of Communications, Rafael Solís Martínez, during the plenary session of the 3rd Extraordinary Congress of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), denounced that the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States and the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, becomes the main obstacle for the full modernization and development of the Cuban Postal Service and expressed Cuba's support for strengthening the Universal Postal Union (UPU) as an intergovernmental organization of the postal sector.

The 3rd Extraordinary Congress of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) takes place at the International Conference Centre in Geneva, Switzerland from September 24th to 26th, 2019.

Political Declaration of Cuba at the 3rd Extraordinary Congress of the Universal Postal Union (UPU)
 
Cuba is currently in the process of updating its economic model, which seeks to achieve an efficient and sustainable production system in which postal communications represent an important link.

It is the will of our government to modernize and computerize mail services as part of local development, for that reason we are making remarkable efforts in the implementation of technologies and automation of all processes related to the provision of the Universal Postal Service.

This task is hindered by the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States Government against Cuba and the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which this delegation condemns as a violation of international law, affecting not only Cuba's sovereignty but also third-party countries.

In this context, the Cuban postal operator offers an accessible service, works to modernize it and make it more dynamic, and as part of the process of updating national legal standards, general postal development guidelines were recently approved, adjusted to the priorities of cooperation in this area, which also includes those projects related to electronic commerce.

The postal service faces the challenges of technological development, electronic communication on a global scale, economic inequalities and the constant and gigantic changes within communications. These are enough motivations to generate, through the convergence of common objectives, a roadmap for the sector.

We believe that postal modernization and development essentially rest on united action and capacity for initiatives, innovation, and diversification of all its participants, sharing experiences on issues such as postal infrastructure and the improvement of services.

In this sense, the Universal Postal Union has an important role to play to continue being the main intergovernmental organization in which the Member States work together to reconcile interests and achieve a common position amid diversity, in favor of growth and sustained development. Making it possible to successfully face the challenges posed by the mail services sector and facilitate universal access to it.

That is why the island has a strong commitment to defending multilateralism in this sector, and to supporting the UPU as the intergovernmental agency of the United Nations system that must be strengthened rather than weakened.

In this noble endeavor, the Universal Postal Union will always be able to count on Cuba's collaboration.