The Universal Postal Union and the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal (UPAEP) signed an agreement yesterday launching the UN agency’s development plan to improve postal services in that region.
Cuba is hosting the UPAEP's 22nd Congress in Havana
UPU Director General Bishar A. Hussein and UPAEP Secretary-General Serrana Bassini signed the agreement in Havana, Cuba, where the UPAEP is holding its 22nd Congress.
The regional development plan for Latin America focuses on reforming the postal sector, improving quality of service and extending a successful electronic money-transfer service called Correogiros beyond the 10 countries currently participating.
Some Posts in Latin America have steadily improved operations and service in recent years, but most continue to face an uphill battle in the communication market.
After years of neglect and lack of postal regulation, private-sector competitors have swept in to capture the lion’s share of the postal market. The UPU estimates the region’s Posts hold less than 20 per cent of the market.
While domestic letter-post volumes in the region have experienced minimal growth between 2006 and 2011, international volumes have dropped almost 12%. Domestic parcels, on the other hand, have seen 26% growth in the same period, while the international stream has seen a 1% decrease.
Governments must pay attention
According to the UPU’s development plan, Posts face technical and economic issues preventing them from putting in place standard operating processes to improve quality of service.
“Many governments of the region do not include the postal sector in their national development priorities, and those that do fail to include proper sectorial policies to guarantee the universal postal service and the sector’s development,” the plan states.
“Governments are the key to the postal sector’s future. It is their responsibility to ensure citizens have access to postal services,” says Bassini, who is leaving the UPAEP after eight years at its head. Her successor will be elected during Congress to lead the organization from January 2014.
Quality-of-service improvement efforts will be aimed at strengthening the network by putting Posts on a regimen of UPU quality control and security programmes and getting them to adopt technology to help them improve processes.
As e-commerce evolves and more goods and merchandise move across borders through the post, thanks to successful trade initiatives such as Exporta Fácil, which are booming in several Latin-American countries, the UPU’s programme manager for Latin America says it is critical to strengthen the postal parcel and EMS services.
“This will be a particular challenge for Posts, which need to adapt their network for parcels instead of letter-post,” says Rudy Cuadra.
Level-playing field
Postal reform should improve the national operator’s efficiency, and this will be the region’s other major focus during the next four years.
Fourteen countries in the region have already integrated postal development and reform plans, a UPU tool to assist countries adopt the appropriate regulatory and legal framework to ensure a balanced postal market and a level-playing field among all operators. The UPU will continue to train postal-reform experts from the region to support national and regional teams working on implementing the UPU plans.
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