An extraordinary congress of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) chaired by Turkey saved the union from "certain" dissolution, a Turkish official said yesterday.

The congress of the UPU, a U.N. agency, was held last week in Geneva, where fees in the global postal services sector were discussed.

The UPU survived the most tense period in its history, as the U.S. threatened to leave due to the fee rate of post coming from China. Kenan Bozgeyik, chairman of the UPU Council of Administration and director general of Turkey's state-run postal service, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that under Ankara's chairmanship, the congress ended in success.

Bozgeyik said UPU was "certainly" about to dissolve with the U.S. threatening to leave the union and would have if no consensus was reached at the congress. "We fought hard to overcome these problems at the UPU and the sector. We're having great success with the support of our government and president," he said. The agreement reached at the congress was seen largely to prevent looming chaos in the global postal system.