50th Anniversary of Asian-Pacific Postal Union – Date of Issue: April 1, 2012

Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU), originally known as Asian Oceanic Postal Convention is an inter-governmental organization of 32 postal administrations of the Asian Pacific region.

The objective of APPU is to extend, facilitate, and improve postal relations between member countries and to promote cooperation in the field of postal services.

It all started in the 1950s, when the idea of a restricted union came. After some informal discussion, the Philippine government sent through diplomatic channels invitations to 18 countries for a roundtable in Manila. The 1961 Manila Postal Conference was very significant for APPU because it gave a concrete shape to the concept  and drew up the Asian Oceanic Postal Convention which was signed at Manila on January 23, 1961 by representatives of Australia, China, Korea, New Zealand, Philippines and Thailand.

The convention was to come into force on April 1, 1962 and on that date they formed a union among themselves, with four member countries, namely, China, Korea, Philippines and Thailand. They established its headquarters in Manila with Enrico Palomar, Postmaster General of Philippines as its first Director. Since then, whoever is the Postmaster General of the Postal Administration of the Philippines acts as the Director of APPU.

In 1983 APPU become affiliated to Universal Postal Union, which is a specialized agency of the United Nations. The headquarters was relocated to Bangkok in 2002.

The membership of the Union subsequently increased with the admission of other countries of the Asian-Pacific region making it today an inter-governmental body of 32 countries namely; Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Lao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samao, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tonga, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

(Philippines Postal Authority)

80 Years of Hanoi/Paris Raid - Special cover

As part of its Biennial Exhibition held on 14 and 15 April 2012, the Philatelic Association of the French town of Ris-Orangis (91) has commemorated the 80th anniversary of a feat by two French aviation pioneers : Henry Robida (1902-1933) and Paul Codos (1896-1960).

These two aviators have indeed pulverized the record for the distance from Hanoi to Paris from 21 to 24 January 1932, in 60h22 of effective flight, aboard their "Breguet 330".

Henri Robida is buried in the cemetery of Ris-Orangis, hence this commemoration.

 

The Philatelic Association of Ris-Orangis has released for the occasion a special collector of 10 personalized stamps (type MonTimbraMoi) valid for a priority letter up to 20g (€ 15.00 the collector).

This stamp appears on the special cover above as well as the special postmark depicting a portrait of Henri Robida and the silhouette of his Breguet.

The stamp features a period photograph showing Henri Robida with also the journey made by two airmen in 1932 from Hanoi (Indochina) to Paris, with stops in Calcutta, Karachi, Basra, Athens, Rome and Marseilles.

(http://timbredujura.blogspot.com)

Tribute to the Vietnamese people

A cease-fire has just put an end to the Vietnam War. Mankind in its entirety welcomes this news with great relief : it is the triumph of reason and soon of justice and peace.

After thirty years of resistance, the Vietnamese people can finally aspire to fully assume their national sovereignty. To do this, it had to pay a heavy price in blood, mourning and tears.

Never has the right to freedom of a people been obtained at such a high expense : an amount of bombs unprecedented in the history of mankind, four times more than in the Second World War, was dropped on the Vietnamese territory, destroying the country, crushing the progress of man and sowing terror in the population of which two million died.

With admirable stoicism, the Vietnamese people succeeding in overcoming all the tests of this merciless war which was imposed on them. Over the years, the Vietnam War ended up gaining all human consciences and became the nightmare of mankind whose indignation, for a long time contained, ended up in being expressed, in broad daylight, by mass demonstrations throughout the world.

 

The entry in force of the cease-fire is a great moment of contemporary history. It is also a day of glory and hope for the great forces of peace which triumphed. Among them, Algeria’s voice has got louder since the independence for the just cause of the Vietnamese people.

(Algeria Post)