Brazil will share its know-how on facilitating trade through the post with the UPU.
This will enable other countries to benefit from export initiatives such as the South American country’s widely successful Exporta Fácil programme.
Through the cooperation, the UPU will use Brazil’s methodology to assist countries set up export mechanisms through their postal networks. The assistance will include training.
Luciana Cortes Roriz Pontes, postal affairs undersecretary from Brazil’s ministry of communications, was at UPU headquarters yesterday to sign a common declaration during the plenary session of the Postal Operations Council.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Brazil’s Exporta Fácil programme is available in more than 8,000 post offices. The programme expedites the process for small and medium-sized businesses wanting to export goods abroad.
“We will jointly develop a range of tools to assist other governments and their Posts to implement similar concepts [as Exporta Fácil] in their countries,” said Pontes.
Thanking Brazil for its support and generosity, UPU Director General Edouard Dayan said “the Internet and the evolution of e-commerce are important levers of growth for small businesses, and trade development is a great opportunity for Posts.”
Big money
Last year, more than 220 million dollars worth of goods were exported through Brazil’s postal network, bringing the total of goods exported since 2001 to 1 billion dollars.
Other Latin American countries, including Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay, have copied the programme with the help of the Postal Union for the Americas, Spain and Portugal, a UPU restricted union based in Montevideo, Uruguay, and the Interamerican Development Bank. Chile and Argentina are set to launch their own programmes soon.
“Today these countries are reaping the benefits of having made the right decision to invest in postal operations, transforming them into true partnerships in their external policy,” said Pontes.