UPU News:-UPU taking e-business development seriously

There are still several challenges hampering the development of e-business, according to a report submitted at the World Summit on the Information Society+10 event in Geneva last week.

Consumer adoption of cross-border e-commerce will remain a challenge until appropriate road and transport infrastructure, customs processes and relevant postal reform are addressed in a coordinated manner, states theoutcome report on the WSIS’s e-business action line.

Making transportation and logistics more cost-effective in moving goods across borders remains “a major hurdle for international e-commerce, especially for consumer purchases”, mentions the report.

As a co-facilitator of this action line, alongside the United Nations Conference on Trade and Commerce and the International Trade Centre, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) is already working hard to resolve these issues, as Posts get ready to play their part in the expanding global e-commerce marketplace.

The UPU convened a meeting at its headquarters in March to foster a multi-stakeholder approach to facilitating global e-commerce.

The UN specialized agency’s operational body also adopted a resolution urging its working groups to more quickly integrate their actions around e-commerce facilitation, as the world’s postal services gear up for an explosion in global online shopping and position themselves to play a critical role in this area.

Enabling environment

UPU Director General Bishar A. Hussein said he hopes governments will heed calls for them to develop an enabling environment for e-business and adopt regulations to promote cross-border e-commerce, as well as strengthen IT capacities in least developed countries, stressing how the Post could be an important partner in these initiatives.

The UPU is working closely with Customs and transportation authorities to ensure Posts move goods across borders more easily and securely. The UPU’s .post top-level domain, which provides an additional layer of security to online postal services, could be fundamental in helping Posts combine secure online and mobile payments for merchants and consumers with transportation and logistics services.

These were also identified in the action-line report as a major challenge hampering the growth of e-business.