Original: English OPERATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE Virtual meeting, 7-8 June 2021 REPORT OF THE OPERATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE (OTC) 1.0 INTRODUCTION The Operations and Technology Committee virtual meeting was held from 7th to 8th June 2021. 2.0 PARTICIPATION Members States Present: Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Other Organizations Present Universal Postal Union International Bureau, United States Postal Service (Associate Member), Posteitaliane, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Southern Africa Postal Operators Association (SAPOA) The detailed list of participants is attached to the report as Annex 1. 3.0 BUREAU The bureau was as follows: Chairman – Tunisia - Mr. Houssem Gharbi Rapporteur – PAPU Secretariat 4.0 WELCOME REMARKS BY PAPU ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL The PAPU Assistant Secretary General, Mr. Kolawole Raheem Aduloju welcomed all participants to the meeting and indicated that it was the first time that the committee meetings were being held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic which had changed how the world conducts business. He thanked the Member States for their unwavering support to the General Secretariat and wished the Committee fruitful deliberations. 5.0 OPENING REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON The Chairperson thanked everyone present for taking their time to attend the meeting virtually and wished that the meeting would go on well. He expressed hope that the committee would be able to meet physically soon. He called the meeting to order and commenced the deliberations for the day. 1 6.0 ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA The Secretariat presented the draft agenda which was adopted, with minor amendments by reviewing the order of discussions to allow Morocco to make their presentation first since the presenter had other commitments later, among other things. The committee therefore adopted the following agenda: a) Opening remarks by the Chairperson; b) Adoption of the agenda; c) Update on implementation of the 38th Administrative Council decisions, resolutions and recommendations, presentation by General Secretariat; d) Status of implementation of the Programme of Action 2019/2020 by the General Secretariat; e) Quality of service, a report by General Secretariat: PAPU Control tests results 2019; Regional GMS results 2019; Report on the progress regarding the establishment of the PAPU/ AFRAA Contact Committee; Covid-19 pandemic response 2020. f) Status report on the implementation of Operational Readiness for E-commerce (ORE) Project, by the General secretariat; g) Status Report on the implementation of Customs Declaration System (CDS) Project: Report by General Secretariat Status Update by Member States: Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda; h) S58 and S59 security standards compliance, a presentation by Morocco; i) Physical Services Development-: Small packet; Tracked delivery service; ECOMPRO parcel. j) Update on the Integrated Product Plan (IPP), a report by the General Secretariat; k) Remuneration issues: Report of the Remuneration ad hoc group; Summary of proposals to the Abidjan Congress. l) The Post and Financial inclusion: Report by the General Secretariat; Sharing of experiences by Member States: Ghana, Egypt; 2 African postal networks: delivering essential access to money, a presentation by IFAD. m) Report on digitization and diversification of services & products in the post in Africa: Brief by General Secretariat Sharing of experience by member states: Algeria, Tunisia,Zimbabwe. n) Presentation of the Chairperson of the .Post Group on the services and future projects of the Group; o) Consideration of draft Programme of Action for 2021/2022; p) Date and venue of the next meeting; q) Any Other Business; r) Adoption of the report; s) Closing of the meeting 7.0 UPDATE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 38TH ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL DECISIONS, RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The General Secretariat made a report on status of implementation of the 38th Administrative Council directives in the form of PAPU/ATC/OTC/2021 - Doc No.2. The Secretariat had written to members encouraging them and their Designated Operators to take necessary measures to implement the resolutions relating to operational issues passed by the 38th Administrative Council in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso through circular letter Ref. CL/PAPU/SG/OT/029 of 21st August, 2019. Member States were requested to provide an update of the status of implementation of the directives via a circular letter and two annexed questionnaires on 27th February, 2020 to enable the Secretariat to prepare a comprehensive report for submission to the 39th Administrative Council which was to be held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in June 2020. The deadline for the return of the questionnaires was 31st March, 2020. Considering that there were no responses by the due date, a reminder was sent out on 2nd April, 2020 giving a new deadline of 22nd April, 2020. Only the following countries responded to the questionnaire: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda. The report was therefore prepared with information from other sources such as the UPU International Bureau. It was reported that the Committee was on course in the implementation of the resolutions and urged the Member States to continue taking necessary measures to implement resolutions on financial inclusion projects and E-services development in Africa to diversify their product portfolios and ensure the sustainability of the Post. Tunisia informed the committee that they were implementing a digital payment system with Mauritania. However, Member States were urged to respond to questionnaires to ensure that the General Secretariat is more informed on the status of implementation of resolutions in the region. The Chairman also requested that all questionnaires be posted on the PAPU website to ensure access by all members. 3 8.0 STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMME OF ACTION FOR 2019/2020 The Secretariat presented a report, PAPU/ATC/OTC/2021 - Doc No.3 on the status of implementation of the Programme of Action for the Operations and Technology Committee as approved by the 38th Administrative Council held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The Programme of Action had earlier been circulated to the Member States and their Designated Operators to take necessary measures to implement through circular letter Ref. CL/PAPU/SG/OT/029 of 21st August, 2019. Member States were requested to provide an update of the status of implementation of the action plan via a circular letter and two annexed questionnaires on 27th February, 2020. The deadline for the return of the questionnaires was 31st March, 2020 and a reminder was out on 2nd April, 2020 giving a new deadline of 22nd April, 2020. Only the following countries responded to the questionnaire: Cameroon, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Information from other sources such as workshops held as well as the UPU International Bureau was also used to compile the report. It was pleasing to note that members were making progress in implementation of the Operational Readiness for E-commerce project, Customs Declaration System (CDS) project, compliance in S42 addressing standard as well as E-services development. However, more effort and resources need to be pulled towards implementation of S58 and S59 security standards as well as the exchange of Electronic Advance Data (EAD) with airlines. United States Postal Service (USPS) pledged their support in implementation of some of the projects including compliance with security standards, exchange of Electronic Advance Data as well as signing of data sharing agreements. Requests can be sent to [email protected]. It was also noted that Tunisia had implemented the CDS project while Algeria was also in compliance with the S42 addressing standard but this had not been captured in the report. The Secretariat was therefore urged to coordinate with the Arab Region Coordinator at the International Bureau to ensure accurate reporting on the status of implementation of projects in the region The implementation of the Committee’s Programme of Action was on course. However, it was important to note that some of the activities were ongoing and could not be fully accomplished in one year. 9.0 QUALITY OF SERVICE REPORT The General Secretariat presented a quality of service report covering control exercises organized by the Secretariat, UPU Global Monitoring System results, establishment of the PAPU/AFRAA Contact Committee and the status of Post in Africa during the covid-19 pandemic, via PAPU/ATC/OTC/2021 - Doc No.4. 9.1 PAPU Control tests results 2019 4 a) EMS results An EMS quality control test organized by the General Secretariat was conducted from 22nd April to 3rd May 2019.Twenty-four (24) DOs participated in the test which is the same number of countries that participated in the year 2018. Fifteen (15) operators sent out test letters to partner operators while nine (9) operators participated only as delivery operators. The number of links tested declined from sixty-nine (69) in 2018 to only thirty-eight (38) in 2019. Out of the 38 links tested, twenty-two (22) attained an average transmission of five (5) days or better. The remaining links attained an average transmission of between six (6) and thirteen (13) days. b) Ordinary letters (LC/AO) results The control