Tag: Universal Postal Union (UPU)

UPU and PUASP organize first training workshop for Latin America in Ecuador

Posted by | Aug 31, 2007 | |

Within the framework of a regional development plan (RDP) drawn up jointly by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal (PUASP), the two organizations teamed up with Correos del Ecuador to organize a training course in Quito from 21 to 23 August 2007.

The purpose of this workshop, which brought together specialists from some twenty Latin American postal operators, was two-fold: first, to encourage postal operators to adopt management tools to attract and maintain the loyalty of large customers, strengthen their business relations and increase their revenues; and second, to put in place a regional action plan, based on exchanges of experience, aimed at organizing the management of large customers and small- and medium-sized businesses.

The participants, which included the PUASP Secretary General, Serrana BASSINI, and the UPU Deputy Director General, Guozhong HUANG, as well as experts from their respective organizations and the region’s operators, took careful stock of the situation and identified potential market niches in areas such as parcels, marketing of existing services and value-added products.

This Latin American postal market development agreement, which will be monitored and supported by the PUASP and the UPU, will lead to three pilot projects geared towards increasing operators’ ability to manage large customers. Processes providing for the incorporation of business mail into operators’ market development activities will also be developed.

Through this project, the UPU and the PUASP wish to emphasize the importance of coordinating actions to increase the capacity of Posts to meet the needs of large customers, namely domestic public services and major export companies.

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Collaboration with the World Customs Organization

Posted by | Aug 30, 2007 | |

The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the UPU have just signed a new memorandum of understanding. This agreement, aimed at taking greater account of the needs of international trade, recognizes the importance of a single postal territory, the universal postal service, and security measures for international mail transport networks. It represents another chapter in the collaboration between the two organizations which began in 1965. The last agreement, signed in 1994, was aimed at countering drug trafficking.

Customs is a vital link in the international mail processing chain, and the UPU strives to improve mail exchanges between countries by speeding up and simplifying the customs treatment of postal items. In 2005, the UPU estimated that some 43 million parcels had passed through the international service – an increase of 3.4 pct compared to 2004. By promoting the universal service, the UPU seeks to ensure that users of the postal service can send and receive goods and messages from point A to point B anywhere in the world.

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Harry Potter gets special delivery

Posted by | Jul 20, 2007 | |

In postal delivery centers all around the world, hundreds of small parcels marked “not to be delivered before 21 July” are being heavily guarded. The content of each package is the same: the latest novel recounting the adventures of Harry Potter.

On 21 July 2007, millions of copies of the seventh and final Harry Potter novel will go on sale in bookshops and other outlets. And for those who have already placed their order by mail, phone or Internet, it is often the postman who will deliver this long-awaited book.

In the United States, for example, USPS delivered 1.8 million books on Saturday, while in the United Kingdom Royal Mail delivered 600,000 copies; in other words, by the British operator’s reckoning, one UK household in 43 will receive the book by post. Canada Post distributed 80 000 copies. Swiss Post and France’s La Poste made also special deliveries on 21 July. Operators are pulling out all the stops to ensure that the millions of books were delivered on time.

From 2004 to 2005, the global number of ordinary parcels sent domestically and internationally rose by 11 pct, for a total of 6 billion parcels delivered annually representing 16 millions per day. It’s unusual for so many identical articles to be delivered within such a short space of time, and some postal operators have looked for innovative delivery solutions. For example, Deutsche Post, the German operator, and Swiss Post delivered the book to impatient readers shortly after midnight in 2005 (and also in 2003 in Germany).

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Africa gears up to host the next Universal Postal Congress

Posted by | Jul 17, 2007 | |

Edouard Dayan Director General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), and the Honourable Mutahi Kagwe, Kenya’s Minister for Information and Communication, today signed an agreement which marks another milestone in the preparations for the 24th Universal Postal Congress, to be hosted by the Kenyan Government and Posta Kenya in Nairobi from 13 August to 3 September 2008. The agreement defines the detailed requirements for Congress.

The Universal Postal Congress, held every four years, is the supreme authority of the Union, bringing together the UPU’s 191 member countries.

A UPU regional round table on the future world postal strategy will also take place in Nairobi starting tomorrow. It is being held with the help of the Pan African Postal Union (PAPU), which brings together 43 countries from across the African continent. The round table – the second in a series of seven being organized by the UPU in collaboration with different regional postal bodies – is designed to gather regional views on the 2009-2012 World Postal Strategy, to be adopted next year in Nairobi.

At Congress, member countries will be invited to sign up to this four-year roadmap, designed to pave the future direction of the postal sector as a whole. It is built around three key strands: improving postal systems’ interoperability through solid UPU international standards, thus strengthening the physical, electronic and financial dimensions of the worldwide postal network, reinforcing postal sector governance, and developing markets and economies.

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Postal financial services are developing at a rapid rate

Posted by | Jul 16, 2007 | |

The Universal Postal Union (UPU), a specialised agency of the UN, plays a crucial and often under-appreciated role in international movement of mail by co-ordinating postal services between member countries.
Today, the UPU’s 191 member countries plus post offices make up the largest physical distribution network in the world, accounting for billions of letters and packages processed every year.

With the mandate of promoting universal postal service, development and technical co-operation, it acts as an international forum and sets technical standards for effective postal operations and interconnecting the global postal network.

Speaking to Business Line in an e-mailed interview, Mr Edouard Dayan, Director-General of UPU, dwelt on issues and challenges before the agency.

Public-private partnerships can be very beneficial for postal operators, but they must determine the need according to their own domestic strategies. Some postal operators are also partnering with private postal operators that have traditionally been considered competition, which is why these days many postal executives talk about “co-opetition.”

In the area of money transfers, the UPU is helping member countries make the transition from the traditional paper money order, a service created by it in the late 19th century, to electronic money transfer.

Through its own international financial network, the UPU is facilitating the exchange of electronic money transfers in many member countries, thus providing greater access to such affordable services to migrant workers and other citizens.

India is actually one of the latest large countries to adopt the UPU’s International Financial System, developed by its Postal Technology Centre, which facilitates money transfer exchanges for many migrants working in India to support their families in another country.

Postal financial services, for example, are developing at a rapid rate, and in some countries revenues from this segment of activity account for more than 50 per cent of total postal revenues. The growth of e-commerce and the parcel volumes thus generated are also opportunities to consider.

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