Regional Approaches to Meeting Global Objectives

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Regional Approaches to Meeting Global Objectives

• Hon. Pennelope Beckles
• Minister of Public Utilities the Environment
• Republic of Trinidad Tobago
• Dubai, 14 16 November, 2006

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The Caribbean

• 22 countries and territories in and around the
  Caribbean basin
• Small in global terms
• Neither poor nor rich
• Little political or economic clout
• Vulnerable to natural disasters
• Small research and development capability
• Minimal market research for developmental
  planning

3
The Caribbean (Contd)

• Structured as Government owned corporations or
  Civil service departments
• Served by the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU)
• Linked to Latin America in United Nations system
• Over 60 of new management in the last 12 months

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Comparison with other Regions(Average Annual
Development)

• Region Average development

Domestic Service International Service -3.7
-5.4 7.9
0.1 1.7 0.5 2.6
1.7 -2.5 -4.3 2.3
0.4
Africa Latin Am Cbean Asia Pacific W.Europe
Nr. AM E.Europe World
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Letter post, international service
(estimates by region, 2004)
Growth in 28 of the countries of the world
of countries experiencing growth
Variation 2003-2004
27.9 19.0 32.4 36.7 38.1 24.4
-15.1 -0.6 -3.3 -5.7 -3.5 -3.9

• Africa
• Latin America and Caribbean
• Asia and Pacific
• Europe and CIS
• Arab countries
• Industrialized countries

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The Challenges

Changing rules and regulations of the
UPU Changing systems and methods Competing Postal
organisations Concepts of postal reform
External to the UPU
Internal to the UPU
WTO stipulations Aggressive non-postal
entrants Competing communication
networks/deregulation Globalisation/liberalisation
Security
2003-2004 4.1
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The Challenges (Contd)

• The cost of participation
• Continuity in policy and personnel
• The changing UPU culture (The need to constantly
  re-educate)
• The seasonal nature of endeavors
• Geographic and operational fragmentation

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The transformation process Trinidad and
Tobago Post

• Phase One
• Restore public confidence
• Build volumes and revenues
• Improve customer service
• Extend universal coverage

• Phase two
• Revise legislative regulatory
  framework
• Gradually expose the new entity to increased
  competition

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The transformation processTrinidad
Tobago(Contd)

• Key annual targets
• Universal Service
• On Time Delivery
• Customer Satisfaction
• Revenue Growth and
• Net Income

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Comparison of Trinidad and Tobagotransformation
result

• BEFORE
• - Government department
• -49 USO
• -12.6 Volume per capita
• -20 Decreasing mail volumes
• -Operating cost twice revenue
• 
  

• AFTER
• Statutory Corp
• 96 USO
• 82. 2 generally J1
• 84 Customer satisfaction
• 32 increase in mail volumes
• Net losses reduced

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Lessons learnt

• Need for clearly defined performance targets
• Best practices
• Capital investment for infrastructural and
  technological development
• Revised pricing structure
• Shareholder (government, management, employees,
  customers) support and commitment to the change
• Monitoring and evaluating

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Objectives of the CARICOM Single Market Economy

• Free movement of people to create a genuine
  single market
• Free movement of Capital, with the expectation of
  developing a Regional Stock Exchange Market
• Free movement of goods and services

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Postal Operators (end state readiness)

• Harmonisation of processes
• Continuation of end to end testing
• Introduction of e-MARIA
• Improving postal service quality
• Developing communications/IT capability

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Focus of the Caribbean Region within the CSME

• Provision of the universal postal service
• Expanding products and services e.g.
  electronic money transfers
• Development of greater customer-focused postal
  organisations
• Attracting new sources of revenues,

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Focus of the Caribbean Region within the CSME

• Engaging in management best practices
• Recruiting and upgrading new skills,
• Exploring new partnerships with private
  enterprises
• Greater investment in technology and
  infrastructure.

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UPUs Role

• Acknowledge the regions special needs
• - Market research
• - Statistics gathering
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Devise special plans and programmes
• Contribute to the development of new products and
  services
• Train and use regional consultants
• - Capability capacity building

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UPUs Role(Contd)

• Channel greater resources inclusive of technical
  assistance and development aid to postal
  administrations that are undeveloped in
  infrastructure and operational systems

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If not, what then?

• Disadvantaged populations
• Disgruntled business clients
• Disconnected networks
• Unhappy Governments
• Less jobs in the sector
• Open to unregulated operators

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CONCLUSION

• Include us
• Support us
• Depend upon us

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Thank you