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Promoting postal development and technical cooperation
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In keeping with the spirit of the United Nations, the UPU and its members promote cooperation so that Posts may benefit from the know-how and expertise of others. Multi-year integrated projects - the current four-year cycle includes 80 or so- enable developing countries, particularly those least developed, to acquire, through joint financing by the UPU and the beneficiary country, much needed operational equipment and to improve postal operations, which can have an impact on quality of service worldwide. They also provide assistance in the event of disaster or calamity. The assistance of the seven Regional Advisers is essential in such circumstances. Today, postal development also involves the training of managers and instructors under the TRAIN-POST training programme and efforts to reduce the digital divide between industrialized countries and developing countries. Thus we see French telekiosks being installed in Burkina Faso and Indian satellite technology appearing in Bhutan. Since 2002, some 125 developing countries have benefited from the financial resources available to them under the Quality of Service Fund (QSF). The delegates in Bucharest will consider how to distribute the more than 40 million CHF now in the Fund so that least developed countries and developing countries can fully benefit from such resources to extend the universal postal service and improve quality of service.
" The UPU must help in the fight against poverty by promoting the universal postal service and help to develop effective international technical cooperation and strengthen solidarity among member countries, as can already be seen with the QSF."
Koutou Sommanogo, Director of Development, Planning and Cooperation, Sonapost (Burkina Faso).
How theUN Secretary General sees theUPU
"In the fabric of global society, the postal service remains a sturdy and colourful thread that touches everyone, even in themost remote corners of the world. Postal services are powerful vehicles of communication, important agents of social cohesion, and concrete contributors to economic and social development.
"For more than 2,000 years, postal networks have helped people to exchange messages and goods. Today, the physical and electronic postal network has become a key partner in building an open and inclusive information society. Indeed, as an affordable and reliable bridge between people and businesses, it is helping to narrow the digital divide between the developed and developing worlds.
"Since the creation of the Universal Postal Union 130 years ago, a single postal territory has linked the world in webs of communication, commerce and trade. In doing so, the UPU has become one of our most valuable, yet largely unheralded, forums of international cooperation and exchange. I hope the UPU will sustain its admirable spirit of service and innovation, from which all citizens of the world can benefit."
Write out other unknown words and word expressions and learn them.
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Find Russian equivalents.
Provide assistance; postal development; digital divide; developing countries; physical and electronic postal network; international cooperation; spirit of service.
Find English equivalents.
Развивающиеся страны; улучшать почтовые операции; почтовая разработка; развитые страны; почтовая сеть.
Answer the questions.
1 Do the UPU and its members promote cooperation so that Posts may benefit from the know-how and expertise of others?
2 What training programme does Postal development involve?
3 Who is the director of development, planning and cooperation?
4 Have postal networks helped people to exchange messages?
5 When has the UPU become one of our most valuable forums?
Give a summary of the text.
Lesson 6
Study the following words.
| to establish | основывать |
| transmission | передача |
| access | доступ |
| to achieve | достигать |
| effort | усилие |
| creation | создание |
Read end translate the text.
Improvement in quality of service
Quality of service is improved in various ways. The team responsible for quality of service has established international mail transmission standards, and since February 2004, more than 80 countries have taken part in end-to-end testing, making it possible to monitor international postal service quality over some 350 international links. From March to June 2004, for example, 60% of the 4,000 test letters posted each week in more than 90 countries were delivered within five working days (J+5 standard). Thanks to the Internet, Posts can access analytical results updated weekly. Nevertheless, despite slow but continuous improvement in international service quality over the last 5 years, we are still far from the world standard of 65% that the UPU hopes to achieve by 2008. Through the QSF and other measures, the UPU will continue its efforts to improve quality of service worldwide.
The UPU has also set up a certification programme based on quality of service management techniques. Ukraine is the first to have so far received certification for quality of service management, but others are expected to join them shortly. For its part, the EMS Cooperative, which has 128 members, has managed to improve the quality of its service since its creation in 1998 through a rigorous evaluation programme. For the first quarter of 2004, the proportion of EMS items delivered on time worldwide was estimated at 82%.
Write out other unknown words and word expressions and learn them.
Find Russian equivalents.
Quality of service; International mail transmission standards; The EMS Cooperative; the test letters; the proportion of EMS items.
Find English equivalents.
Проверка «из конца в конец»; мировой стандарт; улучшение качества обслуживания; со своей стороны; международные звенья.
Answer the questions.
1 What thas the team responsible for quality of service established?
2 Haw many countries have taken part in end-to-end testing?
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3 Will the UPU continue its efforts to improve quality of service worldwide through the 4 QSF and other measures?
5 The UPU has also set up a certification programme, hasn’t it?
6 Haw many members has the EMS Cooperative.
Give a summary of the text.
Lesson 7
Study the following words.
| advent | появление, прибытие |
| undergo | подвергаться |
| lack | нехватка, недостаток; нужда, нуждаться |
| competitive | конкурентоспособный, соперничающий, конкурирующий |
| objective | цель |
| entitle | озаглавить |
| challenge | вызов |
| propose | предлагать |
| approach | подход |
Read and translate the text.
Supporting postal reform
The world has changed a great deal since 1874. With the advent of technology, the disappearance of borders, the liberalization of markets and the increased competition in markets once the preserve of national postal operators, these operators have had to adapt to the market and to customer needs. While many Posts have undergone profound changes in the last 20 years, many still lack the structural and commercial flexibility to become more competitive. Since its creation, the Postal Development Action Group has made headway, clearing the way for constructive dialogue with the World Bank and other regional development banks on the financing of postal reform in developing countries. With postal reform one of its objectives, the UPU organized, in 2003 and 2004, 9 seminars and workshops on postal regulation and the universal postal service, and has just published a work entitled PostalRegulation - Principles and Orientat ions, which presents the main challenges ofpostal reform and proposes several possible approaches
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