Raising awareness of the Post’s role in our lives

By Raja Wickramasinghe

“World Post Day” which falls on October 9 marks the creation of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 and is celebrated by postal administrations all over the world. The Universal Postal Union, during the 16th UPU congress held in Tokyo, Japan in 1969 declared October 9 as the World Post Day.

It was on this day in 1874, postal representatives from 22 countries gathered in Bern in Switzerland, signed the “Treaty of Bern” and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) was created, initially under the name General Postal Union. Four years later at the second congress in Paris, the name was changed to Universal Postal Union (UPU). The present membership in the UPU is 192.

From the earliest times in history, exchanging messages between countries existed in the form of messengers who travelled long distances on foot or horseback. In the 1600s and 1700s, many countries entered into bilateral agreements for the exchange of mail and by the late 1800s there were a large number of such bilateral agreements entered by many countries making the exchange of international mail complicated. The union’s aim was to create and maintain a structure for the free flow of international mail around the world. The 1874 Treaty succeeded in unifying the confusing international postal services and regulations and bringing them into a single postal territory.

The introduction of the postage stamp for pre-payment of postage in England in 1840, established the unified postage fee paid by the sender of a letter of certain weight in the domestic service regardless of the distance it had to travel. Other countries adopting the postage pre-paid system in their domestic services, mail items with stamps of member countries accepted for the entire international route transiting many countries and territories from the country of posting to the country of destination.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) established 142 years ago is one of the first examples of globalization. The lasting accomplishment of the single Postal territory and the freedom of transit for postal items came with the UPU’s creation. Today, the world’s intertwined postal network makes up the largest distribution network on the planet, enabling billions of people and businesses to communicate and exchange documents and goods. As such the postal services have played an incredible role in shaping globalization.

New technologies are changing the postal world. The UPU is developing a range of technological applications and software solutions for mail management, Postal financial services and support services benefitting the postal sector and enabling it to reposition as an essential component of the global digital economy and to maintain its relevance in the global economy. The UPU initiated programmes assist postal services in member countries to adopt new technology, strengthening their network and ICT capability enabling them to offer e-services.

The Post is as important in today’s world of digital communication, as then. In countries with high level of access to digital communication, Postal Services are important for distributing goods. In countries with low level of digital communication access, it remains vital for the distribution of information and goods. Post Offices delivering mail in rural communities become service points to bring digital communication to many people.

With widespread geographic reach and more than 660,000 post offices throughout the world, the postal network is the biggest network of physical, financial and electronic services, in the world. Post offices are everywhere, from the capital cities of bigger industrialized countries to small rural towns of least developed countries. In outlying areas, they are often the only public service available and in many cases, they constitute a vital channel to communicate and exchange goods between communities. Billions of people visit post offices every year for one reason or another. They send and receive mail, parcels and money orders. They can also get access to more sophisticated services such as account-based financial services and new IT-based services.

When one buys a product from an e-commerce site, the order is placed and the price is paid on the internet. But in the end, the goods are not delivered electronically. A logistical partner, very often the Post, is the physical link between the seller and the buyer. The Postal services are adopting new technologies, re-shaping and transforming the postal sector taking advantage of ICT to improve their existing services and to evolve a whole new range of services.

World Post Day aims to bring awareness to the Post’s role in everyday lives of people and businesses. Sri Lanka Post participates in this event, organizing many activities and programmes at national and regional levels. In conjunction with the “International Letter Writing Competition for Young People” organized by the UPU annually to celebrate the World Post Day, the Letter Writing competition among school children is initiated by the Sri Lanka Post annually. The winners are honoured on the World Post Day and the national winner is nominated to compete in the annual “International Letter Writing Competition for Young People” organized by the UPU.

The Sri Lanka Post’s role connecting people in all facets of their lives in the changing environment of widespread adoption of technology remains vital. It provides universal mail delivery to every household in urban and rural Sri Lankan communities at their door step and offers many physical, postal e-services and e-financial services through the network of 652 Post Offices and 3400 Sub Post Offices spread across the country. Its widespread geographic reach and the biggest physical network is unmatched by any other government agency in the country.

The Postal Department is one of the oldest departments in the country having a history of over 200 years. It joined the UPU on April 1st 1877 and again, after independence on July ` 13, 1949, celebrating 140 years of membership in the UPU this year. The Postal Department pioneered in establishing the Post Office Savings Bank in 1885 and effecting deposits and withdrawals through the Post Office network until the National Savings Bank ( NSB) was created in March 1972, taking over the POSB. It started the country’s telecommunication service establishing the first Telegraph circuit between Colombo and Galle in 1858.

The demand of an efficient and modern postal service is the challenge before the Postal Department today.

An International Postal Electronic money transfer service initiated by the Sri Lanka Post would benefit over 1.2 million Sri Lankan migrant workers to send home their remittance securely, easily and at lesser cost and use the 4000 strong Post Office network to deliver it to the recipients with convenience through the Post Offices.

To make the best use of its interconnected network the Sri Lanka Post needs to introduce the Postcode, an essential prerequisite for modernizing mail operations and making the whole process efficient. According to UPU records 143 of the 192 UPU member countries use the Postcode. The importance of postcode is that it enables you to pre-sort your mail, bypassing a number of sorting processes thereby reducing the time and the operational costs, making the whole process of mail operations from posting to delivery faster and more efficient.

The 9th annual scientific sessions of the Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of the University of Colombo was held in July with the participation of Prof Lakshman Dissanayake, Vice Chancellor, UGC board members and late Prof. Wijesundera’s family members, invitees, sponsors, staff and students.

The Prof Stanley Wijesundera memorial lecture was delivered by Dr. Ranjan de Silva, Consultant Immunologist, Head of Department of Immunology, Medical Research Institute and President, Allergy and Immunology Society of Sri Lanka. The lecture was on ‘Primary Immunodeficiency: Cradle to Grave’ which is a current topic that all members of the society need to be aware of and to find ways of confirming diagnosis and latest treatment options available so as to prevent premature deaths.

Professor Wijesundera was the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo, Professor of Biochemistry, and served as the Vice Chancellor for a decade before he was assassinated at his office. He was the Chairman of the Association of Commonwealth Universities from 1983 -1984. He held a Doctorate from the University of Oxford. This institute ( IBMBB) was created under his leadership.

The scientific sessions included 4 sessions, 3 presentations, a poster session with a total of 23 abstracts.