Portuguese to begin Mozambique project
CTT-Correios de Portugal is due to start operating in Mozambique this year, chairman Estanislau Costa said.
Read MoreTag: Mozambique
Portugal’s Postal service CTT to invest 2 million euros in Angola and Mozambique
Portugal’s postal service CTT plans to launch express delivery services in Angola and Mozambique by the end of the year, with an investment of 1 million euros in each market, the company’s chairman Estanislau Mata Costa said.
Read MoreUPU: A good year for the Quality of Service Fund (QSF)
In 2007, the Quality of Service Fund (QSF) financed 75 projects, totalling 15.8 million USD, in more than 50 countries. This was the first time that the Fund, created in 2001, actually spent more money than it received. At its last meeting, in October, the QSF Board of Trustees adopted projects in China (system for translating and improving the delivery of international mail), Bangladesh (installation of X-ray detectors to improve mail security), Romania (mobile offices set up in rural areas) and other countries. A total of 21 very diverse projects amounting to 8.4 million USD were approved recently, including a regional project that will enable nine Latin American countries to set up a cost accounting programme.
The Board of Trustees also awarded certificates to Belarus, El Salvador, Fiji, Jordan, Kenya, Mozambique, Trinidad and Tobago and Uganda for achieving their QSF project objectives and improving postal service quality in their countries.
The QSF was created by the UPU to finance projects aimed at improving postal service quality in developing countries. All member countries, except for the least developed countries, contribute to the Fund through an increase in terminal dues payments.
Read MoreMozambique post offices offer bank services
For the first time in its history, Mozambique’s national postal services utility — Correios de Moçambique — will from next year introduce rural banking services.
The weekly O Pais said in a report on its Sunday online edition that in the first phases, banking services would be opened in Maputo province in the south of the country and in the northern province of Niassa.
Currently the postal service utility operates postal and courier services which are only viable in urban centres.
The utility has been widely ignored by many people because of alleged poor service.
The banking service aims to help the rural population deposit their cash.
In Mozambique, banks and financial institutions are located in urban centres and most people in rural areas resort to keeping their money in homes or have to travel long distances to the nearest urban centres.
However, there are several non-governmental organisations operating banking clubs in the some of the country’s rural areas.
The report said the modernisation and diversification of the services of the national postal services represented one of the biggest challenges the parastatal faced as it aimed to reform its services.
Sources in the ministry of transport and communication were quoted by the paper as saying postal services authorities were in the process of obtaining operating licences and training required staff for the banking sector.
Read MoreCooperation agreement benefits the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa
The Association of Post Office and Telecommunications Operators from the Portuguese Speaking Countries and Territories (AICEP) and the Universal Postal Union signed a cooperation agreement today, at the start of the UPU Council of Administration plenary session in Berne. This agreement defines a package of assistance that will be given to Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa, totalling 120,000 USD over two years.
It is the regional development plan (RDP), the cooperation tool developed by the UPU, which forms the basis of this aid project. Under the agreement, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tomé and Principe will obtain the electronic tools and know-how needed to put their postal services on the path towards lasting reform.
The introduction of continuous testing to help countries achieve the UPU’s J+5 standard for 65 pct of international mail, the creation of a database of mail collection and delivery points, accelerated introduction of IPS Light, the software solution for item tracking and information exchange, the implementation of an electronic money transfer network, and the holding of training workshops on cost accounting and postal operations, via the TRAINPOST programme, are some of the principal measures covered by the agreement signed today. Some of these activities have already been in progress since 2006.
“With this agreement, the UPU and the AICEP are underlining the importance of providing a funding framework to assist Posts whose resources are lacking. It is an example of cooperation that should be followed by the entire postal community, since it provides a perfect definition of concrete measures and a reasonable timeframe” says Manuel Frexes, Chairman of the AICEP.
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