Poste Italiane to aid Russian modernisation
Poste Italiane will aid Russian Post with its quest to modernise its vast postal network. Poste Italiane’s managing director Massimo Sarmi (pictured) and the general manager of Russian Post Alexander Kiselev put pen to paper on the agreement in Russia on Thursday (9 December).
The two postal executives signed the contract in the presence of the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitri Medvedev, in the city of Sochi.
Under the terms of this commercial agreement, signed during the Italy-Russia bilateral summit currently under way in the Russian city on the Black Sea coast, Poste Italiane Group will provide Russian Post with the skills and know-how required to modernise the network of 40,000 post offices, to optimise the logistics network, and to introduce online financial services and mobile phone services.
“This agreement is the confirmation of the understanding already reached in Moscow in March, and sets in motion the operational phase,” said Sarmi. “For Poste Italiane this is a particularly important objective, and is a matter of great satisfaction for us, as it offers the opportunity to contribute to the modernisation programme.
“It will involve the network of post offices and the logistics infrastructure of one of the world’s largest postal operators, as well as the prospect of introducing financial, payment, insurance and digital communication services.”
Sarmi went on to emphasise that the cooperation with Russian Post will allow Poste Italiane to measure up against an organisation with “peculiar characteristics” and “to strengthen Poste Italiane’s prestigious reputation as a strategic partner for countries in Europe and the Mediterranean basin in a phase of strong economic development”.
Under the agreement, a number of work groups will be set up. The groups will carry out a preliminary study of staff training methods, technologies and programmes to be applied in the ‘Masterplan’. The plan is aimed at identifying the strategic solutions required for the modernisation throughout of the Russian logistics-postal system and for the gradual launch of innovative ICT, financial, insurance and e-commerce services.
