Is the postal sector an essential component of the global economy?
What better way of answering this question, the theme of today’s 24th Universal Postal Congress General Debate, than to take a look at the Brazilian Post’s Exporta Fácil programme.
This programme, launched in 2001 with the help of the Brazilian Government, has enabled 10,000 micro, small and medium-sized businesses to access international markets. It is now easier for Brazilian small businesses to export their goods to other countries, whether they are selling judo kimonos to Japan, mushrooms to Europe, or dog clothing to the United States.
As Brazilian Post’s Paolo Siciliano explains, the programme has cut down the red tape involved in cross-border trade. The previous 26 stages of the process have been reduced to three. The Ministry of Communication worked with Customs, the central bank and other players to make the administrative procedure more flexible. The ministry responsible for postal services also adapted the existing legislation to improve export conditions.
The programme was so successful it was adopted by the Peruvian Post. The Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal (PUASP) is currently working with the Brazilian Post and the Inter-American Development Bank, which has invested 1.5 million USD, on setting up similar programmes in Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay by next year. As Serrana Bassini Casco Secretary General of the PUASP, points out, “This programme is strategically very important for the development of Latin America countries.”
The European Union will also be financing the implementation of a project linked to Exporta Fácil for Mercosud, the economic community for South American countries, says Wagner Moreira dos Santos, Under-Secretary responsible for postal services at the Brazilian Ministry of Communication.
What better way of answering this question, the theme of today’s 24th Universal Postal Congress General Debate, than to take a look at the Brazilian Post’s Exporta Fácil programme.
This programme, launched in 2001 with the help of the Brazilian Government, has enabled 10,000 micro, small and medium-sized businesses to access international markets. It is now easier for Brazilian small businesses to export their goods to other countries, whether they are selling judo kimonos to Japan, mushrooms to Europe, or dog clothing to the United States.
As Brazilian Post’s Paolo Siciliano explains, the programme has cut down the red tape involved in cross-border trade. The previous 26 stages of the process have been reduced to three. The Ministry of Communication worked with Customs, the central bank and other players to make the administrative procedure more flexible. The ministry responsible for postal services also adapted the existing legislation to improve export conditions.
“Small businesses did not have sufficient information to take part in international trade, and procedures were bureaucratic. It was very difficult to obtain an export licence,” says Paolo Siciliano, who adds that Exporta Fácil achieved an annual growth rate of over 100 pct for each of the first three years of the programme.
The programme was so successful it was adopted by the Peruvian Post. The Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal (PUASP) is currently working with the Brazilian Post and the Inter-American Development Bank, which has invested 1.5 million USD, on setting up similar programmes in Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay by next year. As Serrana Bassini Casco Secretary General of the PUASP, points out, “This programme is strategically very important for the development of Latin America countries.”
The European Union will also be financing the implementation of a project linked to Exporta Fácil for Mercosud, the economic community for South American countries, says Wagner Moreira dos Santos, Under-Secretary responsible for postal services at the Brazilian Ministry of Communication.
Jose Anson, chief economist of the UPU’s International Bureau, says he knows of no other programme in the world that has been as successful as Exporta Fácil in providing small businesses with access to world trade, a sector normally the preserve of the multinationals and major companies.
