Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Singapore

National postal system to be turned into a profitable sector

On October 5, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on reforming the national postal system.

Sustainable operation of the industry can be achieved through the specialization of the postal system in the delivery of letters, parcels and goods, as much as banking, financial and public services. The system of Uzbekiston Pochtasi JSC runs more than 2 thousand branches throughout the country, employs 7 thousand people. However, due to the lack of proper attention to this sphere, the popularity of postal services has declined. In particular, over the past 15 years, 1.3 thousand branches have been closed. Last year, the national system accounted for only 10 percent of the 6 thousand tons of parcels sent from abroad and 30 percent of courier services.

In this regard, the situation at places was studied and, together with experts from the Asian Development Bank, proposals were developed to reform the postal system. Plans were presented at the meeting for the implementation of these proposals on the example of post offices in Sergeli (Tashkent), Yangikurgan (Namangan region) and Tashkent districts.

The Head of the state stressed that for development of the postal system, it is essential to turn it into an income-generating sector. Shavkat Mirziyoyev pointed out the possibility of boosting the income of post offices by establishing partnership with private operators and introducing additional services.

For example, e-commerce is actively developing today. Services for the delivery of goods purchased via the internet are in demand. In addition, international shipping companies operating in Uzbekistan rarely have branches in the regions. These and other opportunities can be cashed in by simply arranging the delivery of postal items and products to the final recipient.

“The key task of the postal service is to make distant things close and difficult things easy”, the President said.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev urged the officials to test this system in districts and implement it starting 1 March 2021 in regional centers, spreading the practice throughout the country starting July 1. The need was noted for an information system to automate the process of receiving and sorting shipments and monitoring them online.

The President also instructed to launch a national online trading platform by the end of this year. This system would allow entrepreneurs to place their products on the web, while the national operator would take care of their delivery to the addressee. Uzbekiston Pochtasi would act as guarantor in the transaction between the customer and the merchant. To this end it is important to establish a logistics center in Tashkent next year.

Another source of income for the sector can be the provision of basic public services in post offices. In this regard, the task was set to organize the supply of 13 types of public services in 300 branches of Uzbekiston Pochtasi in remote areas. Shavkat Mirziyoyev ordered to introduce such banking services as cash collection and operations with bank cards in the post offices of Sergeli, Yangikurgan and Tashkent districts.

Over the past four years, the volume of distribution of print media in Uzbekiston Pochtasi system has decreased threefold, its share in the total volume of press delivery is 13 percent.

Responsible executives were tasked with developing a press distribution system and establishing online subscriptions for the development of periodicals.

Attention was paid to issues of personnel retraining for the arrangement of new types of postal services, to the use of post office buildings in public-private partnership.

UzA