Roots for postal and logistics innovation and public–private synergy
The Universal Postal Union (UPU) held its Global Leaders’ Summit 2025 recently in Dubai, convening postal, logistics and commerce leaders from across the globe to set the course for the sector’s next chapter.
Held on the sidelines of the 28th Universal Postal Congress–Dubai 2025, the summit featured dynamic sessions on innovation, collaboration and transformation.
During the summit’s opening ceremony, welcome remarks were delivered by Masahiko Metoki, Director General, UPU, and Tariq Al Wahedi, Congress Chair and Group CEO, 7X, who emphasised the UAE’s leading position as a global logistics hub and a catalyst for public–private innovation.
Strategic collaboration
Visionary leaders, such as ministers, CEOs, and heads of regulators from around the world came together to explore how strategic collaboration can spark innovation, harmonise regulatory frameworks, and enhance operational performance across the postal ecosystem.
Tariq Al Wahedi and Ronaldo Mouchawar, Vice President of Amazon Middle East, Africa, and Turkey, led the first duet dialogue, during which they reflected on their recent collaboration for a hyperlocal delivery initiative.
Under this strategic partnership, Amazon UAE leverages the Dark Stores of EMX,7X’s logistics arm, as fulfilment hubs to streamline and catalyse the delivery of high-demand products, in addition to their mutual contribution in the UAE Independent Climate Change Accelerators (UICCA) hackathon and the report on UAE commercial electric vehicles landscape.
Repurposing postal infrastructure
Senior leaders from Guinea, Brazil, the United States, Mongolia and the International Post Corporation also participated in the summit discussions, outlining actionable steps to realise the vision of the future postal sector. Significant insights on repurposing postal infrastructure to support eCommerce, financial inclusion and equitable development, were also unveiled.
The summit concluded with a call to action by Marjan Osvald, Deputy Director General, UPU, and Mohamed Khalid Bin Sulaiman, Chief Licensing Officer, Postal Sector Regulatory Committee, in the UAE, urging relevant stakeholders to do their part in transforming postal networks into agile, interoperable platforms that serve both global ambitions and local communities.
