A TWO-DAY Postal Reform Roundtable Conference opened yesterday at the CARICOM Secretariat Headquarters in Georgetown, aimed at addressing the challenges faced by the various postal sectors in the Region, with

a view to reforming them.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who delivered the keynote address at the opening ceremony, reiterated the need for the regional communities to work together towards the reformation. He noted that the reform is a challenge which deals with change.
PM Hinds noted that when he first took responsibility for the postal sector in Guyana, 20 years ago, it was steeped in the old British system and its survival was already being threatened. However, reforms in the New Zealand Postal System were noted and Guyana initiated some of them. The PM said financing of the post office itself was arranged to allow persons from the New Zealand postal system who were brought on board to help with the reformation. However, this was only partially successful, due to lack of sufficient financing to bring about the amount of change that the system truly needed.
He emphasised that there was great change in the postal sector since it was first founded, and moreso, within the past decade, with the rapid emergence and advancement of the Information and Communication Technology sector.
He posited that some persons may have the opinion that the post is no longer important as a conveyor of the written and printed document, and should be viewed as a delivery service.
PM Hinds stated that reform of the sector is a challenge that has been before government, and the postal service itself, and issues have been raised about regulations and universal and international obligations. He stated frankly that while government has supplied significant attention to the post in Guyana, and enough moneywise to ensure they did not go under, it is possible that maybe not enough has been given so far to agree on a new role and a new path, and not enough attention to get on to a complete reform of the postal system in Guyana.
In looking at what is being done in other jurisdictions, it must be recognised that each faces its own particular difficulties. He noted that with the universal postal service in Guyana and regarding population densities away from the coastline, transportation links are only now developing.
Pointing to the fact that government has been urging the banking sector to venture into small hamlets, he said this will always be a challenge to the post, because hitherto they more or less had enjoyed the monopoly of cash transfers by pork knockers and small miners, sending money to their families from the interior. He alluded to the fact that this could result in the postal sector losing some of its better locations.
He noted also that one challenge would be to consider fair rates for postal services and having persons to accept and be ready and willing to pay for them.
He urged that consideration be given to the comparison of the postal system with the telephone system, recognising what could be learnt from that and the changes in the telecommunication sector. He went back to the 1990s and the reduction in telecoms rates, and highlighted that there was a similar reduction in the postal sector. The question now is, PM Hinds noted, what the post can learn about the telecommunication industry. “Can we now make persons feel proud to receive something in the mail and be willing to pay for it? We have been discussing those questions and we have not yet found answers in the Guyana situation,” the Prime Minister noted.
‘To really ensure the future of the post… hopefully, we fashion the post so it may have a place as we go into the future. “
Ms. Desiree Field-Ridley, of the Department of Trade and Economic Integration of the CARICOM Secretariat, explaining the background of the conference, said it was due to regional member states adjusting to changing times and facing the economic challenges which have called for reform of various sectors, in particular the postal sector, around CARICOM.
She noted that the sector originally enjoyed an output and employment of close to 70% in CARICOM countries, and while the internal challenge of the sector was the need for modernisation, the external challenge was facing competition. The roundtable is faced with the task to prepare and implement the strategy for reform.
Speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU), Mr. John Power urged participants of the roundtable, on behalf of the CPU Secretary General, to take the matter seriously so that the sector can become stronger to survive changes and to recognise the serious capacity of the problem.
Mr. Gerald Power, representing the Universal Postal Union (UPU), outlined the challenges to the Caribbean regarding the sector as compared with the global challenges. He urged the postal leaders in the region to embrace changes.
Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill, former Chairman of the Board of the Guyana Post Office Corporation, pointed out the three most important items on the reform agenda.
The first was to have legislation and to have it discussed in the Caribbean context. The second was to see the postal service as a communication business. Minister Edghill warned that telecommunication has already begun to and could eventually absorb the entire postal business if the postal sectors do not address the issue.
He finally urged partnerships, noting that the postal and telecommunication market was first opened without legislation;he also urged  postal leaders not to be afraid of change but to embrace it.
Edghill called for greater union in the CPU to address the challenges at individual levels as was endorsed by Prime Minister Hinds, who also urged that participants not underestimate the task to harmonise the situations.
Representatives of postal services around the Region are attending the two- day conference.