The UPU has elected Bishar A. Hussein, Kenya’s former ambassador and postal executive, as its newDirector General for 2013-2016 and Swiss-born Pascal-Thierry Clivaz as Deputy Director General.
The two men were elected at the 25th Universal Postal Congress currently taking place inDoha, Qatar. The current UPU Director General Edouard Dayan steps down at the end of this yearafter eight years in the position.
The UPU member countries selected Hussein over Uruguay’s Serrana Bassini Casco who iscurrently Secretary General of the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal, a restrictedunion of the UPU based in Montevideo, Uruguay. From UPU’s 192 member countries, 159 were eligibleto vote, and 87 supported Hussein against 72 for Bassini Casco.
Hussein served as chairman of the UPU’s Council of Administration from 2009-2012. During hislong career in the postal sector, Hussein worked 15 years for the Kenya Posts andTelecommunications Corporation (KP&TC) before being appointed the first Postmaster General ofthe Postal Corporation of Kenya when it split from KP&TC in 1999. He was then elected Kenya’sambassador to the United Arab Emirates in 2002 for five years. He also chaired the 24th UPUCongress held in Geneva.
As the future Director General of UPU, Hussein will run the day-to-day operations at the UPU’s International Bureau in Berne, Switzerland, and represent the organisation at major internationalmeetings. He will also act as Secretary General during the annual meetings of its official bodies,the Council of Administration and the Postal Operations Council, as well as the Universal PostalCongress taking place every four years.
“I accept with humility the honour and privilege given to me today,” Hussein said. “Under mywatch, the UPU will work to fulfill the mandates given to it by this Congress. We will take the UPUto the next level.”
As the new UPU Deputy Director General, the organisation selected Pascal-Thierry Clivaz fromSwitzerland who stood against Dennis Delehanty from the USA.
Clivaz has been Director of Finance and Strategic Planning at UPU headquarters in Berne since2005. He is a former executive of the Swiss Post and was a Swiss delegate at the UPU before joiningit in 2005. Clivaz will take over from China’s Guozhong Huang, who finishes his second mandate atthe end of this year.
