Postal firms set strategy

Postal firms set strategy

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned postal firms in the Asian-Pacific region are using a three-day seminar here to formulate strategies to compete against private courier services.

"Huge private courier firms including TNT, UPS and DHL, which operate internationally, are the main competitors of state-owned postal firms," a director of Indonesia's postal firm, Sumitro Roestam, said yesterday.

The seminar, organized by the Asian Pacific Post Business Center (APPBC), is being attended by 32 delegates from 16 countries and is scheduled to close today.

The APPBC was set up in February this year by the Asian Pacific Postal Union, which is under the supervision of the Swiss-based Universal Postal Union.

Rustam said that the seminar is trying to formulate general strategies such as the leasing of aircraft from private courier firms.

He also said that postal firms in the Asia-Pacific countries should cooperate more to improve competitiveness.(icn)