2434. 🇧🇩🇲🇲🇵🇰 First Asian Issues Of 2024.

 

New issues -

🇧🇩 Bangladesh Post -

10 January 2024 - Homecoming Day of the Father of the Nation, Babangidu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - 1 stamp. Rating:- ***.

🇲🇲 Myanmar Post -

4 January 2024 - 64th anniversary of Independence - 3 stamps. Designed by the Ministry of Information and lithographed by Security Printing Works (Myanmar) and perforated 14. Rating:- ****.

🇵🇰 Pakistan Post -

11 January 2024 - 25th anniversary of the Punjab Municipal Development Company - 1 stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- **.

Events - Royal wedding in Brunei Darussalam - 

  From time to time I try to highlight world events which might result in a stamp issue from a Commonwealth postal administration. With wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza, Venezuela poised to invade Guyana and the Houthis in Yemen launching missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea with The United States and Britain, backed by their more stalwart western allies, hitting back at the Yemeni rebels, a royal wedding may not seem so important in this troubled world. 

  But royal weddings often lead to new stamp issues and so it’s worth noting that the heir to throne of the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam, the 32 year old Prince Abdul Mateen (described elsewhere as Asia’s most eligible bachelor) married Yang Mulia Anisha Rosnah (described in the Press as a “commoner”) in a glittering ceremony at the Istana Nurul Imam palace in Bandar Seri Bagawan, the capital of Brunei on 14 January 2024.

  So far, I can find no evidence that the postal service of Brunei Darussalam has announced a stamp issue to commemorate the event but it has been surprisingly difficult in recent years to track down news of new stamp issues, and to obtain the stamps themselves for that matter. 

  There have been previous Royal Wedding stamp issues from Brunei but both releases commemorated weddings in the British royal family rather than those taking place in the Brunei royal family. Hence two stamps were issued on 14 November 1973 to commemorate the wedding of the Princess Anne (now the Princess Royal) to Captain Mark Phillips and a set of three stamps was issued on 29 July 1981 to commemorate the wedding of The Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer.

  

Football - Africa Cup of Nations -

  The Africa Cup of Nations is taking place between 13 January and 11 February 2024 in the Côte D’Ivoire with teams from the Commonwealth countries of South Africa, Ghana, The Gambia, Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, Namibia, Cameroon and Mozambique all participating. Whether or not any of these  countries’ postal services will issue (or have issued already, though of course Mozambique does not have a formal national postal service) any commemorative stamps linked to this major sporting event remains to be seen. Notably when Cameroon hosted the event in 2021, the host country did not issue, or is not known to have issued, any postage stamps linked to the event. Some Stamperija products with the names of non-Commonwealth countries printed on them have appeared on internet auction sites recently and I expect we will see similar products making an appearance in the near future with the name of Commonwealth countries which allow their philatelic reputation to be abused by Stamperija printed on them - namely Sierra Leone and Togo.