Postal System to Be Exported to Central Asia
Korea Post is to help Mongolia and Kazakhstan modernize their postal networks by sharing its experience in setting up one of the world’s most efficient logistic networks, and by introducing advanced mail-handling systems developed by South Korean IT firms.
The heads of the three countries’ postal agencies will announce the establishment of a cooperation committee in its inaugural meeting in Ulaan Baatar, the Mongolian capital city, Monday, Korea Post said, Sunday.
The representatives, including Jung Kyung-won, president of Korea Post, will sign a partnership pact and will draw a blueprint of modernizing the Central Asian postal network, it said.
The forming of the committee will be a gateway for Korea’s system developers to make inroads into the developing markets in the region, where the mail services are still in their rudimentary stages compared to their Eastern neighborhoods. It can become a breakthrough because the domestic market has already begun to shrink due to the increasing use of e-mail and other electronic communication tools.
“The establishment of the three-nation partnership committee will be a stepping stone for Korean IT firms to advance into the Central Asia and Caspian nations,” Jung said. “By initiating an annual meeting with Japan and China in 2000 and by forging the Central Asian partnership deal this time, South Korea is emerging as Asia’s hub nation in the postal services.”
Korea Post is considered one of the world’s most advanced and efficient mail handling systems. It spent more than 16 billion won between 2002 and 2004 on establishing the electronic mail logistics system called PostNet. This May, PostNet was recognized as the best postal technology in the world by the World Mail Award, which was organized by a British consulting firm Triangle.
The government’s investment in upgrading Korea’s postal system also nurtured its private sector as well. Some 30 companies are now providing various types of goods and services for the postal network, such as an automatic sorting system, labeling system, delivery scheduling software and hand-carry information system for mailmen.
Among them, LG CNS will be taking charge of Mongolia’s postal modernization project, and SK C&C will bid for the Kazakhstan project, the agency said.
The volume of mail is also becoming more difficult to forecast every year. According to Korea Post, the number of ordinary paper mail is decreasing around 5 percent every year due to the emergence of the e-mails. But the volume of parcel post is continuously increasing. During the Chuseok holiday week last month, the postal agency delivered a record-breaking 5.2 million parcels, 37 percent up from the same period of last year.
