Postal industry needs urgent reforms to ensure viability
- CPU Secretary-General
Stabroek News
July 17, 2002
Issues of mail security and the changing postal environment, including competition from cyber services, will form part of the deliberations of delegates to the current week-long 6th conference of the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU).
The meeting which opened at the Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel on Monday is the first to be held on the South American continent and has drawn delegates from 23-member states in the Caribbean, along with five non-members from Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Holland and France who are deliberating on a number of critical issues.
According to Secretary-General of the CPU, Wendell Wattley the body was meeting at a time when the postal industry is being challenged to find new and innovative means to sell its products.
Handy: Managing Director of PC Associates Ltd, Peter Cole strikes a pose on one of the postal delivery bicycles on display at Monday's opening of the Caribbean Postal Union conference at Le Meridien Pegasus. The cycle is one of the many postal items marketed by the company he heads. (Ken Moore photo)
The body, he stated, needed to examine these challenges and frankly discuss and chart the course for a viable sector.
He hoped by the end of this conference they could develop strategies to deal with the postal reforms urgently required.
He further said that the postal reforms will be in keeping with World Trade Organisation and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade rulings regarding the opening up of the industry to competition where there is no protection where once some level had existed.
He acknowledged that cyber services, especially e-mail, are affecting the traditional letter services of the post office and recognised the need to develop new ideas to remain competitive.
According to the secretary-general, post offices must deal with the challenges even to the point of providing inducements to lure the public but he recognised the need for changes to the legal framework to allow them to operate as commercial entities.
He also said that matters of mail security were part of the agenda for discussion, especially as it relates to illegal drugs being transported by post.
Deputy Director-General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), Mousimo Mazou, stated that the conference provides an important forum for CPU members to interact and examine issues that are vital to the growth and development of the sector.
Pointing to the theme of the conference, "Securing the future of the Caribbean Post and Responding to the Global Challenge", Mazou outlined the important issues of quality service and standards as key factors likely to influence the survival of the sector.
Postal reforms will provide customers with a better quality of service, Mazou contended.
He was critical of the level of participation of regional postal bodies in the UPU's quality of service test. Only about five of the 23 postal services in the region have taken the test. The test, he said, can help postal bodies to see what improvements could be made to upgrade their service. He also stated that the UPU is committed to working with the regional body to ensure the development of a stronger service.
In the feature address, Minister of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Dale Bisnauth, alluded to the theme which he said was in keeping with the rapidly changing times fashioned by revolutionary changes in technology globally.
These changes, he said, are shrinking the world into a single global village with super information highways taking the place of regular mail, through e-mail and websites.
These changes, according to the minister, are forcing the postal sector as it is known in the Caribbean to adopt changes in the way they do things, especially with the development of the digital age. According to Bisnauth, the institution that has served the region so well will have to change its old methods and current structure if it is not to go the way of the dinosaur.
The five-day conference is expected to see the postmasters- general from member states engaging each other in discussions prior to a two-day caucus of ministers responsible for post and communications on Thursday and Friday.
Earlier, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Guyana Post Office Corporation, (GPOC) Bishop Juan Edghill in welcoming remarks said that the union was meeting in a climate of change in the Caribbean and the world.
According to Edghill, the world of free market enterprise is causing businesses to seek alliances in order to survive and advance, and concepts are being redefined to aid this cause. Similarly, the postal sector and its administration must gear itself to make the transition, Edghill advised.