From Uruguay to the Universal Postal Union?
(Continued from page two):
Co-operating with the private sector Working with the private sector to pursue shared opportunities is something that Bassini sees as particularly important for postal operators and the UPU.
Doing so is also paramount in solving the major security concerns existing in the world’s supply chain, she says, along with the need to respond to the communications challenge represented by the internet and the move towards social networking.
”I am convinced that the public operator and private operator should work together. We share the same problems, we share the same concerns.”
On this latter point, as an example Bassini notes the meetings the PUASP has been having since 2006 with ALACOPP, the private sector umbrella group for the Latin American region.
“We are working with them because then we can understand the entire postal market,” she explains.
Among the interesting work coming out of that relationship is research that seeks to challenge the perception that switching to digital communications is instantly a victory for the environment and climate change.
”Some digital enterprises, for example in Argentina, are saying it is better to use e-mail than the letter, purely because of the environment. The study shows that it is not completely true that sharing through the internet or digital systems is less aggressive for the environment.”
Research and resources
Dr Bassini wants to see the UPU use its position to bring more resources to developing research in the postal sector
With her strong academic and teaching background, it is clear that Serrana Bassini has a great respect for education and research, and what it can bring to the postal sector across the world.
It is another pillar of her candidacy, namely that one of the big opportunities an umbrella organisation like the UPU can offer its members is directing shared resources into more research for the benefit of all.
More research in areas such as new technologies and market trends can help prepare countries for both current and future challenges.
“The UPU must anticipate and try to play a role in anticipating the research and the development of innovation for postal operators. The UPU should support more co-operation on more projects, with more resources. As an organisation it can help postal operators to improve, to visualise the future; and to try to obtain outside resources through various mechanisms, for example, through banks, including the international development banks and the World Bank.”
Speaking from her experience helping to guide the postal sector in such a diverse region as the Americas, she says all of the UPU’s work must bear in mind that its members are all very different in the stage they have reached and the problems they face.
So while she sums up the central priorities of her candidacy as improving service quality, supporting the social element with postal operators, and designing products for new markets, she says there must be a balanced approach from the UPU.
“We may know very well where the future lies, or what we need to do, but the problem is we need sometimes to wait and to walk more slowly. But we need to have a balance, because we can’t wait too long. The future is now.”
This interview with Dr Serrana Bassini was first published on Post&Parcel on 19 December 2011, and is re-published as part of our coverage of the 25th UPU Congress and the UPU leadership elections. Click here for an interview with her fellow candidate for UPU director-general, Ambassador Bishar Hussein.
