Singapore hosts 15th ASEAN postal business meeting
Singapore’s Minister for Information, Communications & the Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang, today opened the 15th ASEAN Postal Business Meeting (APBM), hosted by Singapore Post (SingPost), at the Novotel Clarke Quay Singapore.
About 50 delegates from the 10 ASEAN countries namely Brunei Darussalam,
Cambodia, Republic of Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Union
of Myanmar, Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the Socialist Republic
of Viet Nam, as well as ASEAN countries ie People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong,
Japan, India and the Republic of Korea, are attending the meeting in Singapore.
Meetings
The Singapore Meeting will begin with the election of the new Vice-Chairperson and the
adoption of the business timetable. Malaysia holds the chairmanship of the ASEAN
Postal Business Meeting.
During the two-day Meeting, senior postal officials from the 10 ASEAN countries will
receive updates from the 24th Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress and its impact on
ASEAN, and will discuss the leveraging on Singapore and Indonesia, both of which were
recently re-elected into the Postal Operations Council (POC), as the conduit for
UPU/POC information between the ASEAN members and the UPU/POC, as well as
establishing funding projects that can reinforce ASEAN’s collective competitiveness as a
region, so as to realise equitable and sustainable growth. The meeting will also provide
updates from the previous meeting held in Philippines on 4-5 September 2007.
Along with updates on UPU Country Classification and the Impact of Terminal Dues and
Quality Service Fund, members of ASEANPOST will table various proposals including
one on ASEAN Terminal Dues.
Said Yang Berbahagia Datuk Abu Huraira Abu Yazid, Chairman of ASEAN Postal
Business Meeting and Acting Managing Director/Group Chief Executive Officer of Pos
Malaysia: “Postal organisations are blessed by being members of Universal Postal
Union (UPU). Cooperation amongst members transcends politics, economic
development, and ideology. UPU thus accords a valuable framework to facilitate
achieving ‘reach and accessibility’ value beyond our respective shores.”
He added: “The agenda established for this year’s APBM is designed to foster greater
cooperation amongst members and also with friends peripheral to our boundaries. This
will supplement the various bilateral initiatives undertaken or being planned by several
countries. Cooperation on mail, courier services, logistics and financial services (such
as remittances) will certainly elevate our mutual businesses and raise our financial
profile as standards and expectations will have to be met. The pace and level of
cooperation will no doubt depend on several factors, such as one’s readiness, resources
and capability.”
Emphasizing the importance of regional collaboration especially in the face of the difficult
economic situation, Mr Lim Ho Kee, Chairman of Singapore Post said: “All over the
world, the postal industry is facing unprecedented challenges. As postal operators, we
have to deal with increasing competition and rising costs of operations. We all face
pressures to provide quality, universal postal service at an affordable price, at both the
national and international levels.
Looking at the wider landscape, we have seen the postal industry evolve over the years.
Market liberalisation, growing competition, changing customer demands, and the
explosive growth of the Internet and information technologies, have changed the postal
scene. It is important that we, postal operators work closely together as we are all
interdependent at the international level. By forging closer alliances and leveraging on
the potential synergies as a group to meet the regional and global demands, we can
help to mitigate negative effects of the evolving postal market. The recent financial and
debt crisis only accentuates the need for us postal operators to work even harder to
maintain and strengthen our competitive positions.”
Mr Lim was speaking at the opening ceremony on Singapore’s experience as the first
postal operator in Asia to be fully liberalised in April last year.
Innovation Key to Sustainability
Mr Lim spoke of the need to be innovative as the postal environment continues to
evolve.
Besides expanding considerably the range of its activities, which include financial,
insurance as well as other services along with the more traditional postal ones, SingPost
will also be introducing two new innovative services, a next morning delivery service, AM
Mail and ClickPost this year.
The introduction of its new AM Mail service in December will bring SingPost to the next
level of service excellence. Its AM Mail service, which is a time-certain service, gives
customers increased convenience as they can post such mail at any of SingPost’s 800-
odd posting boxes and their addressee will receive the mail before 11 am instead of the
current 5 pm. Posting times remain unchanged.
SingPost’s ClickPost service is a hassle-free and efficient one-stop mailing solution for
customers. This service, to be introduced in November 2008, will allow customers to
concentrate on their core business, leaving the printing and posting of the mail to the
mail operator. Corporate customers also enjoy convenience as they submit contents
electronically to SingPost who will archive these materials after printing and mailing
them.
Postal Operations Council
SingPost and Pos Indonesia, representing Singapore and Indonesia respectively, were
re-elected to the POC at the recent 24th Congress of the UPU.
With 40 member countries, the POC deals with technical and operational issues. It
promotes the introduction of new postal products and makes recommendations to
member countries concerning standards for technological, operational or other
processes. The Council's programme of work aims above all at helping postal services
to modernise and upgrade their postal products.
Singapore has been active in the POC especially with the Terminal Dues Project Group,
the Parcels Group, and the Postal Security Action Group. Singapore’s re-election is the
first step towards the continued active participation in the work of the Union over the next
4-year cycle, particularly those relating to operational matters, contributing to the
development of the UPU.
