Strengthening regional postal services:

Platform for international business opportunities - Hemasiri Fernando

By Naalir Jamaldeen

The Postal Services Ministry and the Postal Department is ready to hold the Asia-Pacific Postal Union (APPU) Executive Council Meeting (ECM) from September 15 to 19 in Colombo. Holding the APPU ECM in Sri Lanka will be a turning point in the history of the Postal Service in Sri Lanka. Approximately 150 foreign representatives and a group of representatives including the Director General of the Universal Postal Union will participate in the ECM. President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be the Chief Guest at the inaugural ceremony, Secretary of the Postal Services Ministry Hemasiri Fernando said in an interview with the Sunday Observer.

The Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) plays a pivotal role in improving postal relations between member countries and promoting cooperation between them. The APPU consists of three bodies such as the Congress, Executive Council and the Bureau. The Congress is the supreme body of the Union and is a composed of representatives from member countries. The Executive Council (EC) comprises all the member countries of APPU. The Executive Council meets once a year, in one of the member countries of APPU, Fernando said.

Sri Lanka has been benefiting from APPU since 1970. Hundreds of Postal Department employees received opportunities to undergo training in the Asia Pacific Postal College (APPC). By assuming the Chairmanship of APPU in 2014, Sri Lanka can derive more benefits for the development of postal sector, he said.

He said that Department of Posts lacks expertise to introduce Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based services such as international money transfer, e-commerce, and hybrid mail services. As a large number of international experts are to participate in the APPU Executive Council Meeting as observers, their advises could be obtained to introduce ICT based postal service in Sri Lanka, according to Postal Services Minister Jeevan Kumaranatunga.

The dividends of economic, political, trade, social and cultural investments made by Sri Lanka through CHOGM can be extended by holding APPU ECM 2014 in Colombo. The Government's initiative, to make Sri Lanka a world class nation, should be extended to all fields such as sports, education and health. The APPU ECM is an opportunity to perceive the state of Sri Lanka's postal services in the Asia Pacific region, the Minister said.

the Asian-Pacific Postal Union (APPU) is an inter-governmental organisation with 32 member countries. APPU is affiliated to the Universal Postal Union which is a specialized agency of the United Nations. The purpose of the APPU is to extend, facilitate and improve postal relations between member countries and to promote cooperation in the field of postal services, the Minister said.

The novel idea of setting up a postal union for the Asia Pacific region was proposed in the 1950s. After informal discussions the Philippines Government invited 18 countries to hold a round table discussion in Manila from January 10 to 23, 1961. Afghanistan, Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam were the countries which were invited for the round table discussion. The round table discussion drew up the Asian-Oceanic Postal Convention, Postal Services Ministry Secretary Fernando said.

The convention was to come into force on April 1, 1962. On the same day, they formed a union among themselves and set up the headquarters in Manila and appointed Palomar, Postmaster general of Philippines as its first Director. The headquarters was relocated in Bangkok in 2002, he said.

Later, other countries in the Asian-Pacific region joined this regional postal union making it today an inter-governmental body of 32 countries such as Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Lao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tonga, Vanuatu and Vietnam, according to Fernando.

The Congress is the supreme body of APPU and composed of representatives of member countries. The representatives of the member countries of APPU meet in Congress within two years after holding each Universal Postal Congress in order to revise the Acts of the Union.

The Executive Council (EC) comprises all the member-countries of the Union with a quorum of the majority. The Executive Council (EC) meets once, each year. The EC carries out the duties assigned to it by a Resolution of the Congress. It implements international postal service rules and regulations providing necessary details to operate postal service between the member-countries.

The EC also maintains contacts with postal administration of the member- countries of APPU to improve the postal service. It prescribes rules for the administration of the Bureau and to supervise the activities of the Bureau while reviewing and approving the annual budget and accounts of the administrative section prepared by the Bureau.

The EC make useful contacts with the various organizations of the Universal Postal Union, with Unions or with other specialized agencies of the United Nations with special interests in the area and, if necessary, to appoint representatives to conference of such organizations.

The Bureau serves as a medium of liaison. The Bureau is composed of the administrative section and the training section. The Bureau is under the supervision of the Executive Council.

The Bureau provides training facilities and advisory services to improve the postal services within Asia and the Pacific regions. This training section is administered by a Governing Board, chaired by the head of the host administration of the Bureau (Thailand). The Governing Board meets at least once each year in the country where the Executive council holds the ECM. The training section of the Bureau is known as the Asian-Pacific Postal College.

APPU is a golden opportunity to Sri Lanka to gain after Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held last year in Sri Lanka, The ECM will be a golden opportunity to disseminate the image of Sri Lanka to the world, Minister Kumaranatunga said.

Further it will be a significant platform to reap international business opportunities by strengthening the relationships of regional postal service and will benefit the ongoing exercise to improve tourism, he said.

It is the first biggest event to be held in the history of the postal service in Sri Lanka. Currently the number of member countries of APPU have increased to 34 with Hong Kong and Macaw, the Minister said.

This is an important juncture in the postal history of Sri Lanka. It boasts of a postal history of over 217 years. This event will be a milestone in improving the postal sector of the country, the Minister noted.

We hope to take this opportunity to promote Sri Lanka's Postal service in the Asian-Pacific countries. This meeting is of special significance and will put Sri Lanka on the map. We will market and promote Sri Lanka's postal sector at this event, he said.

The coming APPU ECM will be advantageous to Sri Lanka expedite the postal services within the Asia-Pacific countries. We also hope to increase income levels and reduce losses made by the Postal Department by building closer ties with these 34 countries, the Minister said.

There are many countries which which have very little links with Sri Lanka. At one time many people living abroad were of the view that parcels and other documents sent to Sri Lanka via the postal service will be lost in the post. They entertained these doubts because of the problems in the country, the Minister said. After the restoration of peace in the country, Sri Lanka's image in the international arena has increased. Political and economic ties with foreign countries have increased.

Sri Lanka earns millions of rupees through foreign remittances made by migrant workers. When they send money to Sri Lanka they approach private agents like Western Union and other money brokers. Then the people go to banks and money dealers in the city. Now the situation has changed with the introduction of a new services in the Postal Department. Sri Lanka Post is being developed across the country by modernising post offices. With this change Sri Lanka Post has begun to build its image across the country and worldwide, Minister Kumaranatunga said.

Since Sri Lanka Post is enhancing its image here and abroad it is being well-received internationally. Sri Lanka Post has the largest network across the country because of the number of Post offices across the country. Migrant workers can now send remittances easily through post offices because of easy access. "With this improvement we hope people in the villages will utilise the services offered by the Postal Department, as they will have easy access to the facilities that are available", he said.