Description
Human development and fast industrialization in the 19th century necessitated the intensification of international postal traffic, so in 1868 the first postal conference was held in Paris, where guidelines were adopted on the expansion and development of international cooperation in the field of postal traffic.
The first Universal Postal Congress was held in Bern, from September 15 to October 9, 1874. The Congress was attended by authorized representatives of 22 countries, which covered an area of about 350 million km2 with more than 350 million inhabitants: Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Greece, Denmark, Egypt, Italy, Luxembourg, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, United States of America, Serbia, Turkey, Hungary, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and Spain. During the session of the Congress, Montenegro also joined the Union, and some countries that were colonies of some of the founding countries also joined.
On October 9, 1874, in Bern, as a delegate of the Principality of Serbia, Mladen Ž. Radojković, Secretary of the Postal and Telegraph Department of the Ministry of National Economy, signed the Treaty on the Establishment of the General Postal Union, later known as the Universal Postal Union.
Today, the Universal Postal Union is an international organization, a member of the United Nations, which operates on the principles of unity of postal territory, freedom of postal transit and unity of letterpost fees, with the aim of developing and improving postal traffic. This global organization, which gathers 192 member states, establishes rules for international mail exchange and makes recommendations to encourage the growth of the volume of postal, parcel and financial services as well as to improve the quality of service for customers.
Expert collaboration: Vladimir Milić, Union of Philatelists of Serbia
Artistic realization of the issue: MA Jakša Vlahović, academic graphic artist
