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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Flags of the member countries : Asian Oceanic Postal Union (AOPU),


  Asian Oceanic Postal Union (AOPU) 
 Flags of the Member Countries
Most of the countries in the world are members of the Universal Postal Union. The Constitution of this Union permits members to form themselves into restricted unions covering specific regions of the globe. Special agreements are concluded to facilitate cooperation and improvement in the postal services of the member countries within the region, provided such agreements introduce provisions more favourable to the members of the public than those provided by the acts of the UPU. Further a restricted Union has the important role of promoting postal development in the region, cooperating with the UPU and the regional economic commissions in the implementation of technical assistance programmes in respect of postal services and strengthening relations with the other restricted Unions. At present the following seven restricted Unions are functioning in different parts of the world:
 1. European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), Stockholm.
2. The African Posts and Telecommunications Union (APTU), Brazzaville.
3. The Arab Postal Union (UPA), Cairo.
4. The Postal Union of the Americas and Spain (PUAS), Santiago.
 5. The African Postal Union (APU), Cairo.
6. Asian-Oceanic Postal Union (AOPU), Manila/Bangkok.
 7. The Narodic Postal Union (UPPN), Helsinki.

Asian Oceanic Postal Union (AOPU), originally known as Asian Oceanic Postal Convention is an inter-governmental organization of 32 postal administrations of the Asian Pacific region.The objective of AOPU is to extend, facilitate, and improve postal relations between member countries and to promote cooperation in the field of postal services.
 The convention was to come into force on 1 April 1962. On that date, they formed a union among themselves and established its headquarters in Manila with Mr. Palomar, Postmaster General of Philippines as its first Director. 
The headquarters was relocated to Bangkok in 2002.

 Philippines commemorated 15 years of AOPU in 1977. The Stamps show Flags of fourteen (14) member countries.

 The stamp from Thailand commemorating 15th anniversary of AOPU shows flags of eleven (11) member countries .
Indian stamp issued on the occassion of 15th anniversary of AOPU shows only the Logo of the Union.
 
Philippines stamps issued to commemorate the 50 th anniversary of AOPU. 
(Note; The 30p denomination stamp reproduces one of the stamp issued earlier during 15th anniversary celebration of AOPU. My friend Mr Kenneth Sequeira very kindly sent me the above two stamps from Dubai. Many many thank you Kenneth)


Thailand issued a stamp in the denomination of 3 Bhat to commemorate the 50th. anniversary of AOPU
In due course others countries of the Asian-Pacific region joined this regional postal union (AOPU) 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, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tonga, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

Monday, June 4, 2012

FLAGS ATOP MOUNT EVEREST

National Flags Atop Mt. Everest
In the spring of 1953, the ninth British Everest Expedition led by Col. John Hunt made the first ascent of the summit of  Mt. Everest on 29 May 1953 with its two members, Tenzing Norgay - a Nepalese born Indian from Darjeeling and Edmond Hillary - a New Zealander.
 The Indian National flag that was flown for the first time on the Mt. Everest on 29th May 1953 is now preserved in the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum , New Delhi.
 


 50th. Anniversary Year of Conquest of Mt. Everest
Special post-mark issued from Darjeeling on 29 May 2004
 
50th anniversary of the conquest of Mt. Everest.
 The Mt. Everest (Tibetan: ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ, Chomolungma[ or Qomolangma /ˈtʃoʊmoʊˌlɑːŋmə/ CHOH-moh-LAHNG-mə, "Holy Mother"; Chinese: 珠穆朗玛; Pinyin: Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng; Nepali: सगरमाथा, Sagarmāthā) is the earth's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level. (source ; Wikipedia)
 Marshal Islands commemorates their achievements considered far beyond personal ones – but an achievement of the entire humankind. 
 While Sherpas of Nepalese origin retained their dominance on Mt. Everest, after them, Americans, British and Indians had the highest number of summiteers on the Everest. 
 

1924 British Mount Everest Expedition led by Lieut. Col. Norton. The Label showing Mt. Everest with base camp with marginal inscriptions  TIBET - NEPAL - SIKKIM and with Swastika in the four corners symbilising good luck for the expedition. The stamps were used on mail from base camp to nearest Indian P.O.

In fact, Indians have emerged as the third highest conquerors of Mt Everest among foreign climbers. successfully climbing the world's highest peak.
 The Indian Mt. Everest Expedition -1965. Nine men reached the 29,028 ft.  high summit of the Everest in four successive  attempts in May 1965
 The stamp shows Capt. Aluwallia and Phu Dorji on the summit of Mt. Everest on 29 May 1965. The facsimile of the picture was taken by one of the summit parties. The photo was taken at 10.30 a.m. when a high speed westerly wind of over 75 km per hour made the Tri-colour flutter against the deep blue sky.
Indian Army added another feather to its cap in May 2001, when its mountaineers successfully scaled Mt. Everest and put a record eight members and seven Sherpas on the summit.

 The FDC depicts ‘The dreaded Khambu Icefall’ in the background, along with a photograph of jubilant summiteers of the Indian Army Expedition 2001, atop Mount Everest in May, 2001.
 

 Several countries came out with beautiful stamps to announce and record the success of their mountaineers' great achievements.
 The illustrations above are not a comprehensive and complete one.
 Some exhibit frames depicting Flags atop Himalayan peaks in the "FLAGS - Short Hand of History" - exhibition on the Indian National flag presented by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), curated by Sekhar Chakrabarti, in August 2014 at Kolkata (Calcutta).