Australia Post offers technology to Pacific postal services

Australia Post is set to offer its Pacific counterparts assistance in several forms, potentially including the supply of technology, to bolster services in the region.

The assistance will be driven out of a new three-year ‘Pacific postal development partnership’ agreed to by the Australian government and Australia Post, together with  the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU).  

Australia Post will receive “a $450,000 contribution” from the government “to target improvements to postal systems, processes, technology and training in the region.”

“This funding will be supplemented by Australia Post’s expertise and in-kind support, including equipment that can help meet the needs of Pacific postal operators,” the government said.

The government cited “ongoing digitisation of the global economy” as one of the reasons to raise the capability of Pacific regional postal services.

The first activities under the agreement will start by the end of 2022.

Australia Post’s group CEO and managing director Paul Graham said his organisation would meet with Pacific operators “to tailor our assistance to their specific needs – whether that be sharing our knowledge and expertise to the supply of equipment and technology."

"Australia Post is particularly well placed to help these nations both respond to the challenges and take advantage of opportunities from the acceleration in ecommerce, which will benefit the entire region,” he said.