UPU: Azerbaijan can become regional hub for postal mails

Baku due to its favorable position can become an international hub for postal mails from Asia to Europe.

Director General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Bishar Hussein said about this during the Bakutel 2016, the 22nd Azerbaijan International Telecommunications and Information Technologies Exhibition and Conference held in Baku from November 29 to December 2.

He noted that the post offices worldwide are engaged in delivering online purchases, which are very popular today.

"Everything from the Middle East, China, Indonesia, and other countries with developing economies can be delivered to Baku and then sent to the rest of Europe," he said, noting that this business can bring trillions of dollars to Azerbaijan.

He further mentioned that the postal services of Azerbaijan enjoys the most advanced technology and provides good service.

He recalled that a few weeks ago Istanbul hosted the Congress of the Universal Postal Union, which developed a global postal strategy, aiming attraction of modern technologies to provide the highest quality services.

"We are glad that Azerbaijan has made considerable progress in this direction, which is adopted by the international postal authority as a global strategy," he said.

Hussein noted that the postal service of Azerbaijan is modernized and uses the same technology as the Universal Postal Union to provide services.

“People are now showing interest and asking how important and relevant postal services in today’s world, where digital technologies are ubiquitous, and parcels are delivered by unmanned aircraft. However, I can say that we also modernize, adapt to new technologies, and have created the most extensive network in the world," said the Director General of UPU.

zerpost, the national post operator, was established in 1999 and received the status of national postal operator in 2004. Currently, Azerbaijan Post cooperates with about 70 countries of the world by IPS System of UPU for tracking of international parcels and about 80 countries by Cricket Inquiring System for searching of parcels promptly.

One of the biggest achievements of Azerbaijan was the country’s election to the governing bodies of the UPU - Council of Administration and the Postal Operations Council for the first time in the 24th Congress of the Union.

Another success of Azerpost at the international level is its awarding gold-level certificate by UPU EMS Cooperative for the fifth consecutive year among operators in over 160 countries.