Governmets urged to support postal development, modernisation

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) on Tuesday urged governments to support postal development and modernization on the occasion of World Post Day observed on Oct. 9. Bishar Hussein, director general of UPU, called for governments to enhance support to postal reform efforts to ensure the provision of efficient postal services. He noted postal services continued to play a vital role in the exchange of information and goods. "Post remains important facilitators of national and international trade in this constantly evolving world. The postal network, with more than 600,000 post offices, remains the largest physical network on the planet and a fundamental infrastructure that enables large segments of the economy to function," the head of the UN specialized agency said in a statement. Hussein stressed that postal services were positioning themselves as the delivery service of choice for goods ordered online along with the growth of e-commerce. He added postal financial services were also on the rise with their vast reach to meet the needs of unbanked citizens located in far-flung areas where traditional financial institutions are often not present. According to data from UPU, in 2012, posts globally delivered an estimated 350 billion letters and more than 6 billion parcels, in addition to having processed millions of financial transactions as more and more posts expand their range of postal financial services.