On Tuesday, 11 July 2017, an agreement between Tunisia and the Universal Postal Union was signed, opening up a new era for e-commerce in Africa.
In another significant step to introduce e-commerce in the African continent, UPU’s Director General Bishar A. Hussein and Tunisian Minister of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy Mohamed Anouar Maârouf, signed a cooperation agreement to formalize their commitment to the creation of the Ecom@Africa Tunisia platform. Also present on the occasion were UPU Deputy Director General Pascal Clivaz and UPU Council of Administration Chairman Kenan Bozgeyik.
The UPU and the Tunisian Post have been negotiating this agreement for the last few months, with significant progress being made in the past few weeks. The project’s main objective is to facilitate e-commerce through the postal network in Africa, thus giving micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) access to international markets. This will be made possible by simplifying import and export procedures, with the support of designated operators of UPU member countries and other key players in the supply chain.
Both parties to the agreement recognized that initiatives like this to promote e-commerce through the postal network in Africa are an important step in integrating UPU member countries, with the goal of increased international exchanges.