Shri A.Raja, Minister of Communications and Information Technology has said that postal administrations will have to assure quality services within their country and across the borders as per the needs of their customers. There is no other alternative if Post has to be competitive. The Minister was speaking at five day Executive Council Meeting of the Asian Pacific Postal Union here today. Shri Raja inaugurated the meeting. He said that we need to build a global postal network accessible to all which integrates the physical, electronic and financial dimensions of the service. Postal administrations will also need to find a mechanism which results in a win-win situation for all the participating administrations.
Shri Raja said that in more than a century of its existence, the Post has stood for certain values. People still feel secure in sending their remittances and putting their savings in the Post Office and in many countries a large number of investors are with the Post. The Post Office is known for accessibility as the friendly office next door. Everybody feels comfortable to walk in to the Post Office; they may not feel as comfortable to go to any other office. The Postman is still the most popular Government representative, he added.
Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, in his presidential address said that the postal network in Asia Pacific region comprises 342,000 permanent post offices i.e. 51 per cent of the total number of Post Offices worldwide, manned by 17,15,600 postal employees i.e. 31 per cent of worldwide postal staff. The anomaly in the percentage of employees to the number of Post Offices needed to be changed he added.
India Post is hosting the 30th Asian Pacific Postal Union, Executive Council  Meeting from November 27 to December 1, 2007 here with an aim to exchange views and discuss matters of mutual interest so as to strengthen co-operation amongst postal administrations and postal service providers in the Asia-Pacific region. More than 150 foreign delegates from 29 countries are participating in the Meeting. This is the third time India Post is hosting an APPU-EC meeting. India Post earlier hosted this meeting in the years 1980 and 1992. The APPU is an inter-governmental organization of 30 postal administrations of the countries of Asian-Pacific region founded in the year 1962. India became a member in the year 1973. APPU is affiliated to the Universal Postal Union, which is a specialized agency of the United Nations. The purpose of the APPU is to extend, facilitate and improve postal relations between member countries and to promote cooperation in the field of postal services.