Enhancement Of E-Commerce Sector

‘So, we are inviting some of the airline companies which operate in the Fiji market such as Fiji Airways, Vanuatu Airlines, Tonga and Nauru Airlines. Basically, when our cargo comes up into Fiji, sometimes there are hurdles and system process issues there

Pacific Member countries of the Universal Postal Union (UPU)discussed strategies to improve the delivery performance of the regional postal network by helping designated operators to modernize their operational processes during a three-day workshop in Nadi.

The first Startup project workshop for the Pacific- “Operational Efficiency and ECommerce Development (ORE 3) began on Tuesday and ended yesterday at the Tanoa International Hotel.

In accordance with the UPU regional development plan for the countries of Asia-Pacific for 2022– 2025, the UPU International Bureau has prepared an operational efficiency and E-Commerce development (ORE 3) regional project.

The outcome of the workshop will contribute to ensuring compliance with the applicable requirements, fostering further growth of the ECommerce market by improving E2E delivery reliability, and providing consumers with increased visibility through electronic data interchange (EDI) message exchanges.

Post Fiji Pte Limited Chief executive officer Doctor Anirudha Bansod said Post Fiji Pte Limited coordinated the workshop on behalf of the Universal Postal Union based in Bonn, Switzerland.

“Mails are dropping every year all over the world and Post Fiji are also having that issue but when you say that the mails are dropping on one side, there is another opportunity for us as the parcels are going high and the E packets volumes are going up as well,” he

“So, the issue here is how Post Fiji handles the E-packets, E-Commerce because there are a lot of people involved right from the sender to the receiver this end to end solution is what we need and this workshop will help our team to understand how the touch points are connected between the whole cycle.”

He said the Post Fiji Pte Limited would be hosting a separate meeting on Friday with airline companies.

“So, we are inviting some of the airline companies which operate in the Fiji market such as Fiji Airways, Vanuatu Airlines, Tonga and Nauru Airlines. Basically, when our cargo comes up into Fiji, sometimes there are hurdles and system process issues there,” he said.

“The meeting on Friday will also include the UPU team and resolve any hurdles or blockages so that is a crucial meeting for Post Fiji as well as all other Pacific nations’ postal services to come on board and resolve those issues.”

He said discussions regarding Post Fiji Pte Limited taking a leadership role in creating the Pacific postal group would also be done.

“The idea behind that one is also pacific countries where we do get a lot of donors, and facilities. Sometimes we use various technologies, but what happens is when you use these technologies and donor funding, many of our island brothers and sisters do not have any intensive information or solutions, what they exactly need from the various vendors, and they sometimes charge exorbitant charges.

“So, this is where the collaborative efforts of the Post Fiji to organise all the postal pacific organisations into one room and create that organisation.”

UPU Coordinator Asia Pacific and South Cooperation Thakur Subhash Sinha most island nations depend a lot on imported things so their infrastructure needed to be geared towards E-Commerce which is now booming.

“There are ten posts here including

Cook Islands and nine other members of the UPU and we want them to be strengthened and the postal supply chain is so well geared that they provide a very high quality ECommerce service, including track and trace of every item where it is when it is bought when it is delivered, so that people can see online seamlessly where the item is and how this is delivered,” he said.

“The interconnection of the posts with the airlines with custom with security agencies wherever security is required, the whole idea is that people start to get in E-Commerce space post office as the most reliable party.”

He said another partnership was the set up of the UPU sub- regional office in Suva.

“I met the Permanent secretary and he is promised as well as the Post Fiji CEO Dr. Bansod they will be providing us free space at Suva so that UPU can recruit a consultant and the consultant can work here and help the Posts in the region meet the top standards,” he said.