The Deputy Director General of Universal Postal Union (UPU), a specialised United Nations agency, Mr Marjan Osvald yesterday extended an invitation for Zimbabwe to participate at Universal Postal Union Congress in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, in September.
Mr Osvald extended the invitation after paying a courtesy call on Vice President Kembo Mohadi in Harare, as Zimbabwe took over the hosting of the southern region UPU offices.
Mr Osvald was accompanied by Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Minister Tatenda Mavetera.
Mr Osvald said Zimbabwe had the potential to be a leading player is postal services across the African continent.
"There are three reasons for our visit here. The first is to show gratitude to Zimbabwe because Zimbabwe is hosting our UPU regional office.
"The second reason is that we delivered, as promised, a new postal policy to the Honourable Minister (Mavetera) and the third reason was to meet the Vice President.
"We at UPU are sure that Zimbabwe can play a leading role not only in Africa, but also in the future with other postal operators," he said.
Minister Mavetera said it was an honour for Zimbabwe to be hosting UPU.
"We have been selected in the region to host the Universal Postal Union offices.
"It is a great pleasure for us and it also shows that Zimbabwe has been recognised as an important player in postal issues," she said adding that Zimbabwe would soon be launching a smart post office.
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Post Master General Mr Maxwell Chitendeni said they wanted the Universal Postal Union to assist in the setting up of an e-commerce mobile app.
He said UPU was happy that the Government of Zimbabwe had set up community information centres at Zimpost offices countrywide where people were being trained in ICT skills.
Mr Chitendeni said it was an honour that they were moving in line with the national strategy as mandated by their line ministry to digitise the economy.
Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) deputy director general Mr Alfred Marisa said it was the first such high-level visit from the UN agency.
"There are a number of areas where we cooperate with the UPU and the first being that we are hosting the regional office here in Harare, previously under Zimpost but now under Potraz.
"This visit is very important in that we had an opportunity to discuss areas of common interest," he said.
