The opening of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Regional Office Tuesday is one of Post Fiji Pte Ltd.’s biggest achievements as it paves a way for advanced postal division in the Pacific.
Deputy PM and Minister for Trade, SMEs and Communications, Manoa Kamikamica officiated at the signing ceremony and stated that with Fiji being the hub of the Pacific, hosting a prestigious international organisation such as the UPU is an honour.
He stated that the regional office, “will enhance the UPU’s ability to provide member countries in the Pacific Region with technical assistance for the development and modernisation of their postal services. The new office will oversee the postal operations not only in Fiji but eight other neighboring Pacific Island countries such as Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.”
“With the sub-regional office in Fiji, UPU is better placed to strengthen its relationship between Pacific Island members, and as our national postal service provider, Post Fiji now has direct access to UPU technical assistance given the close proximity to the new office premises. Needless to say, other postal operators in the Pacific Region now also have easier access to UPU technical expertise.”
Director General of the UPU, Masahiko Metoki congratulated the Fiji Government and Post Fiji, and stated that the post is an essential pillar for the socio-economic development of any country. The new office is set to deepen collaboration amongst industrial stakeholders and bring wider development of the region – especially in least developed countries and small island developing states.
Post Fiji CEO Dr Anirudha Bansod thanked UPU for always rendering its support towards small islands developing states and least developed states.
“Many a times the challenges that exist for small island developing states (SIDS) and least developing states (LDS) are quite different in comparison to the developed states (DS) and the inception of the Universal Postal Union Regional office will greatly assist all the SIDS and LDS to identify gaps and the needs that need to be addressed so that these very gaps can be utilised to bring about changes and improvements to the postal sector in the Pacific. This could be in terms of finances, disaster risk management, climate change and so forth,” he said.
SOURCE: FIJI GOVT/PACNEWS
