Solomon Post is making impressive strides in its pursuit to deliver effective postal services in-country while at the same time keeping up with international postal practices.
These humble achievements became possible with the National Government’s recent communication policy direction that aims to improve connectivity and accessibility to communication services throughout Solomon Islands.
Since 2015, the National Government has made a firm commitment through the Ministry of Communication and Aviation to support Solomon Post to settle its more than SBD2.5 million arrears in membership fees and interests to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) that has accumulated since 1998.
With the arrears paid, Solomon Islands now have a full voting right at the Universal Postal Union (UPU) which means Solomon Post can now access technical assistance and is now part of in-country and regional programmes of the UPU in the Asia Pacific Region.
With ongoing Government support, Solomon Post is now adopting the “What3Words” addressing system for postal addressing, implementing Solomon Islands Postcode, eCommerce readiness and other Financial Systems that will help Solomon Islands achieve its SDGs.
Furthermore and as part of a series of Government’s legislative reforms, a review of the current Solomon Islands Postal Corporation Act is underway to reflect the changes in the sector and harness opportunities and manage challenges in the modern postal environment.
As a result of this Government policy direction, Solomon Post is now venturing into a new space on financial services to offer eWallet system for both domestic and cross-border transactions. The Ezi Pei System is at its infant stage but the Corporation is working toward a soft-launch by the second quarter 2019.