New Issues 2020 (April - June)

This page collects only issues released during the year 2020, period April to June. 

As it is not such obvious as it looks to find this information, this list is probably not yet complete. In certain countries, joint issues are often announced on the day of the issue and sometimes it takes months before this information and the corresponding stamps reach us. Data on missing issues or supplementary information, particularly for countries, which are producing joint issues exceptionally, will be highly appreciated.

Most recent update of this section on March 8, 2021.

2020 (April 10) - [C20200410]
Georgia (June 15) - Poland
"We remember 2010-2020"; former President of Poland Lech Kaczyński. 10th anniversary of the Smolensk Air Disaster. Concerted issue [C1].
Identical stamps. Portrait of the president Lech Kaczyński (1949-2010). Multicolored.
1 stamp per country - miniature sheets with 12 stamps - FDCs - mixed FDC

The delayed released of the Georgian stamp is a consequence of the transport restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially both stamps were supposed to the released simultaneously.

2020 (April 27) - [B20200427]
Central African Republic - Djibouti (June 12) - Guinea-Bissau - Kenya () - Mali (December 1) - Niger (June 10) - Sao-Tomé and Principe (June 8) - Senegal (July 20) - South Sudan (July 21)
COVID-19 "Lutte contre la pandémie de COVID-19 - Hommage au personnel de santé" (Fight against the COVID-19 pandemic - Tribute to health workers) - Borrowed Design [BD]
Identical stamps. A, World surrounded by people, symbolizing the virus; B-C, nurses (Central Africa Republic); D, soldier; E, nurse; F, nurse; G, three nurses and a baby. Multicolored.
2 to 4 stamps issued in panes, miniature sheets, souvenir sheets and/or booklets - postal stationery (card) - FDCs

There is no official published agreement that claims that these countries have created this issue jointly. Actually, to our knowledge, these stamps are not fake stamps, but are produced centrally and difficult, if not impossible, to be purchased directly from the participating country post offices. Purchase is possible only through dealers which obtained production and sometimes worldwide sale monopoly. This explains why these stamps are defined as Borrowed Design [BD] and not as true joint issue [T]. This classification could be modified only on the basis of a) a document/letter bearing these stamps and cancelled from the country that has really travelled and/or b) a mixed FDC document and/or c) a written statement of these postal administrations that these stamps have been designed jointly with the other countries.
Several stamps related to the COVID-19 pandemic were issued between May and July 2020 with different designs and are not part of any joint issue. In particular stamps bearing the country names of Mali or Gabon, and associated to the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale, are to be considered as fake stamps and not to be collected. Stamps from Indonesia (Prisma) related to the coronavirus are not to be reported here as privately produced. Central Africa, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau (and others) souvenir sheets representing the world with round stamps or taking the design of the first British stamps showing the Queen wearing a mask have also to be excluded from the collection as not officially approved by the countries.

Kenya stamps have not been seen so far.

2020 (May 1) - [N20200501]
Central Africa - Chad - Djibouti - Guinea-Bissau - Niger - Sao Tome - Sierra Leone - Togo.
100th anniversary of Pope John-Paul II. Parallel omnibus issue [O].
Each country issued 4 stamps portraying Pope John-Paul II. All stamps are different. Each stamp is available as perforated and imperforated, produced in miniature sheets [4x3] of 5 or 6 stamps together respectively with 7 or 6 labels representing buildings. The complete series include 32 sets of miniature sheets. As only 200 full sets have been printed, this series cannot be considered as a joint issue

2020 (May 5) - [C20200505]
Cape Verde (November 23) - Portugal
30th anniversary of AICEP (Associação Internacional das Communicaçóes de Expressão Portuguesa - International Association of Portuguese Expression Communications). Concerted issue [T1].
Identical stamps. A (common stamp), symbol of AICEP); B, world map. Multicolored.
1 stamp per country (Portugal two se-tenant stamps) - Cape Verde: one souvenir sheet - FDCs

2020 (May 8) - [P20200508]
Belarus - Russia
75th anniversary of victory in the great patriotic war. Parallel issue [P1].
Different stamps. Belarus: souvenir sheet with different symbols of the war and stamp with church; Russia: souvenir sheet with one stamp showing the main temple of the Armed Forces of Russia built in honor of the Resurrection of Christ and dedicated to the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The margins of the Russian souvenir sheet provide images of bas-reliefs with Soviet soldiers repeating the subjects of postal stamps of the  Path to Victory  series issued in the period of 2016–2020. Multicolored.
1 souvenir sheet per country - FDC

2020 (May 13) - [T20200513]
Poland - Slovakia (May 18)
100th anniversary of the birth of Pope John Paul II (1920-2005). Twin issue [T1].
Identical stamps with identical labels. Portrait of the pope with the house where in lived with his family in Wadowice. The label shows Pope John Paul II with Cardinal Jan Chryszostom Korec (1924-2015) in Nitra, Slovakia, 1995. Karol Josef Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II, was born in Wadowice on May 18, 2020. Multicolored.
1 stamp and one label per country - miniature sheets with 6 stamps and 6 labels - FDC - mixed FDC

2020 (June 16) - [B20200716]
Guinea - Mali (December 1) - Togo
African Philatelic Hub 4th anniversary. Borrowed Design [BD]
Four years after the initiation of the African Philatelic hub, some countries decided to issue again the same stamp with an additional reference to this 4th anniversary. While at that time all involved countries, (Burkina Faso - Central Africa - Congo (Democratic Republic of) - Ivory Coast - Mali - Morocco - Mauritania - Senegal) issued their stamp(s) at the same date [T20161004] leading to a true twin issue, this year a very limited number of countries did participate, at individual levels. So far only Guinea and Togo can be reported with one stamp each, but both countries are newcomers. Mali issued 6 different stamps, also with the same design, but without reference to the 4th anniversary, and with text "POSTE 2020" (stamps mixing two denominations, three colors, and two sizes, printed in pairs of se-tenant stamps - two denominations - in miniature sheets of 4 pairs [2px2], printing of miniature sheets: 500, or souvenir sheets with a pair of stamps, print run 500). This 2020 similar issue can only be considered as a 'Borrowed Design' issue [BD].

1 to 6 stamps - souvenir sheet (Mali) - miniature sheet (Mali) - FDC

If one takes in account all countries which have signed the agreement in 2016, one could expect the following countries also to issue stamps in the continuity of the above: Burkina Faso - Burundi - Central Africa - Congo - Ivory Coast - Mauritania - Morocco - Niger - Nigeria - Senegal

2020 (July 16) - [N20200716]
Bulgaria - Central Africa (July 24) - Guinea Bissau (September 29) - Liberia (October 26) - Mozambique (September 15) - Sao Tome (August 31) - Togo (October 8)
By May 11, 2020, the UPU proposed to create at individual levels a common stamp at the occasion of the International Day of Family Remittance (IDFR) 2020 campaign "Building resilience in times of crisis". Designs of the stamp in several languages were provided. The recommended issue date was June 16, 2020. In other words, UPU asked to their members, to accept, modify, approve and print a new stamp on top of their existing program, within a time frame of less than 5 weeks! Up to now a single country produced a stamp at this occasion with the suggested design: Bulgaria on July 16, 2020, i.e. one month later. Of course, with a single country, this issue has to be considered as aborted [N1].

1 stamp per country - FDCs

Unfortunately, some of these stamps have been created opportunistically by central producers without any formal commitment from the countries' postal administrations. As a consequence, only Bulgaria answered to the UPU call, and therefore there is no possibility to consider this series as joint. In the best case, i.e., if another 'official' country joins Bulgaria, this issue could be considered in the chapter 'Borrowed Design ' [BD].