Posts are providing a public good of a kind the global economy is lacking today, said Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the UPU’s Strategy Conference.
Speaking in a video message, the head of the International Monetary Fund called on Posts to continue “providing the global economy with new services and people in developing countries with services that nobody else can provide”. The French economist-politician also said that the Posts were very much alive. “Some may believe that postal services belong to the past. Of course they’re totally wrong,” said Strauss-Kahn, a keynote speaker at today’s session focusing on the impact of the financial crisis on the postal sector.
Also addressing more than 550 delegates during the conference on Wednesday was Greece’s Andreas Taprantzis, chair of the UPU’s Postal Operations Council. He said that the global economic crisis had impacted the sector in that it had accelerated the onset of the ailments the industry had been facing for a long time.
“We need change and we need it now,” he said. “This crisis will change the mindset of all postal stakeholders,” he added.
For their part, delegates posed questions on the future of the postal sector. Some pointed out the differences between postal operators across the UPU’s 191 member countries.
“Some Posts are still struggling with mail processing… others have perfected the business and can do it with their eyes closed,” said Mohammed Benten, chief executive of Saudi Post.
A delegate from Zimbabwe emphasized that there were other issues that had to be addressed including that some developing countries still needed funds to set up basic postal infrastructure, especially in remote areas, as well as knowledge.