Postal services around the region are continuing to streamline their e-commerce platforms to ensure their continued viability in a post-COVID environment, but there is still much work to be done.
This was highlighted recently during the Operational Readiness for E-commerce (ORE) workshop in the General Post Office’s conference room.
Acting Postmaster General, Joann Busby, said the Regional Development Plan indicated that countries that engaged in digital transformation were better able to withstand the shock and disruption that accompanied COVID-19.
“E-commerce grew during the pandemic. Those governments that diversified to offer e-government and financial services through their posts also proved resilient,” she said.
Ms. Busby told those present that many of them were involved in the ORE project since 2017, and had achieved the performance indicators required to ensure their operational readiness for seamless cross-border e-commerce.
But, she lamented, the playing field was still uneven, and there was work to be done in increasing the number of designated operators that have signed service level agreements and exchange electronic data interchange (EDI) messages with airlines.
“The unfortunate reality is that few airlines plying Caribbean airspace have the capacity to exchange EDI messages. This is an area requiring much improvement,” the acting Postmaster General outlined.
Ms. Busby urged those present to look for opportunities to improve the processes, and share best practices to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to assist the posts with functioning better.
Meanwhile, Field Expert and head of the Universal Postal Union’s (UPU) Regional Field Office of the Caribbean region in Bridgetown, Craig Brathwaite, said the Government of Barbados and the UPU were in the process of establishing field cooperation arrangements, to reflect the UPU’s new system of presence in the field.
This, he explained, would reinforce the regional approach through greater proximity with the countries, regional players and the various stakeholders in the postal sector.
“The UPU’s development cooperation policy for 2022 to 2025 highlights that the UPU shall ensure the continuity of the regional approach, through regional development plans that incorporate all of the UPU’s activities in the field within a coherent and coordinated framework,” Mr. Brathwaite said.