GENEVA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The 24th congress of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) closed here Tuesday with the adoption of a new world postal strategy and the election of a new leadership.

    The strategy focuses on modernizing global postal services at all levels, whether in terms of institutional reform or quality ofservice improvement, postal security and universal postal service,or raising awareness of the impact of postal services on the environment and climate change, according to a UPU press release.

    The congress also adopted the new Postal Payment Service Agreement, which is expected to enable postal operators to move more quickly towards offering faster, more secure and more accessible electronic money transfer services to unbanked populations in regions that are poorly served by formal money transfer networks.

    Edouard Dayan was re-elected director-general of the UPU. His deputy, Huang Guozhong, from China, was likewise re-elected.

    The quadrennial UPU event brought together over 2,500 representatives from 179 of the UPU's total 191 members.

    Established in 1874 and headquartered in Switzerland's Berne, the UPU is a specialized UN agency that coordinates postal policies between members and hence the worldwide postal system.