UPU Awards Winner of International Writing Competition

Doha, October 09 (QNA) - Marking the world post Day , the 25th Universal postal congress, currently held in Doha, on Tuesday seized the opportunity to present the gold-medal winner of the 41st "international letter-writing competition for Young People", Greece's Marios Chatzidimou. The 14 year old Marios received his gold medal for his letter to tennis champion Roger Federer that captured the hearts of the international jury to win the medal. The jury picked his letter for presenting the simplest yet creative style of writing. Chrysanti Koukkou , Greece's ambassador to Qatar, HE Eleni Zormpala, General Manager of business operations at Hellenic Post, Savvas Dandolos, and in the presence of all UPC member countries and their delegations, Marios, received his gold medal along with other prizes graciously contributed by the international Olympic committee. "I'm very proud to bring a gold medal to my beloved country Greece which is the birthplace of the Olympic game," Marios told Qatar News agency (QNA) in an interview today. After receiving his prize by the Director General of the universal Postal Union, Edourad Dayan, another surprise awaited Marios when he received a letter from Federer that was hand over to him on the stage,by Marc Furrer, the Secretary of State, Head of the Federal Communications Commission, Switzerland Within the message, Federer congratulated Marios, who also plays tennis, for his win, encouraged him to go on in the route of writing and egged on him to keep playing tennis. "I'm so happy about it. I didn't expect it," Marios said. In turn, Marios who wants to grow up to be a historia, handed Furrer a tennis racquet of his own with a wood-burnt picture of Federer on it to deliver it to the top seed tennis player. "Federer is my favorite athlete, I'm playing tennis too, so I found him the best choice to write about in the competition," he said. Meanwhile, Greece's ambassador to Qatar extended her congratulations to Marios in a speech on this occasion, and thanked the Universal Postal Union for encouraging youngsters in preserving the postal role via such writing competitions. More than one million young people from 55 countries participated in the UPU s 41st International Letter-Writing Competition this year. Other award winning youngsters in this competition, who are expected to receive their medals today in their respective countries are Kenya s Valentine Chimba, 15, receiving the silver medal with a letter to her countryman, runner David Rudisha, Ukraine s Aliona Kuchanskaya, 15, and Trinidad and Tobago s Chelsea Gabriella Ellise Mangaroo, 11, a bronze medal with letters to Elena Yurkovskaya, a Ukrainian skier. The next 2013 writing competition asks young people to write a letter to someone to tell them why water is precious under the theme "Water for Life" 2005 2015. In his annual message to the UPU meeting, Edouard Dayan, the Director-General of the Universal Postal Union(UPU) for 2012 said, '' A new strategy for a new world...an era of new information and communication technologies, of mobile telephones and the Internet. And yet, Posts are not standing idly on the side lines: they are an integral part of the increasingly digital world. As strong drivers of economic growth, Posts must continue to innovate, develop efficient and accessible postal services, adopt common standards and exploit new technologies to diversify and improve services. Post offices whether physical or virtual serve not only customers communication needs but also allow them to conduct official business, pay bills, send or receive money, order goods or track and trace letters or parcels along the entire distribution chain. Traditional letter-post services still account for the majority of postal revenues but Posts can benefit from the globalization of mail exchanges in other ways. They should seize the opportunities offered by e-commerce. Many Posts are wisely readying their operations for the e-commerce boom, which has resulted in increased parcel volumes. And rightly so; industry-watchers predict that e-commerce sales will surpass the trillion-euro mark in 2013. Many of the goods ordered online will be delivered as parcels to customers and who better than the Post to fill that role? For its part, the UPU will continue to help Posts better interconnect their networks to facilitate exchanges. It will also continue to provide know-how and technical expertise, encourage the development of innovative postal products and services to better meet customer needs and sustainably develop the postal sector. Governments too must step up to the mark. Their support of the postal sector is crucial. With it, Posts across the globe will fulfil their potential as motors of national economies. Despite this changing world, the postal community is still well placed to guarantee the integrity of the universal postal service and the free circulation of mail items within the single postal territory, he noted. (END)