Absence of common policy stalls postal activities

Delegates from the sub-region met in Yaounde yesterday for the Plenary Assembly of the Conference of Posts and Telecommunications.

The Central Africa Sub-region has been described as the weakest in the continent in terms of postal activities. The lack of a common policy on postal operations is said to be pulling back the region and continent globally.

Delegates to the Plenary Assembly of Posts and Telecommunications of Central Africa, COPTAC, meeting in Yaounde yesterday July 21, 2016, agreed that it was time the region spoke with one voice, which was only possible through a joint legal framework that permits them to manage the postal sector.

The sub-region is the weakest in regional integration and postal experts say the sector’s assigned role of facilitating intra-African exchange, trade, communication and movement of people was being stalled, affecting the economic growth of member States. The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Minette Libom Li Likeng, said it was time to improve trans-border mail delivery, money transfer as well as facilitate the implementation of a sub-regional approach.

All other regions of the continent boast legal frameworks on postal cooperation except Central Africa. The Pan-African Postal Union, PAPU, is ready to assist the region come up with a legal framework and member states are only expected to agree on a basic policy. The COPTAC held on the sidelines of the ninth Plenipotentiary Conference of PAPU taking in Yaounde today.

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the PAPU has also brought special guests like the Director General of the Universal Postal Union, Bishar Abdirahman Hussein. He communed with the postal family at the National Advanced School of Posts and Telecommunications on July 20, 2016, at a ceremony chaired by Minister Minette Libom Li Likeng.