10/17/2024
PostEurop convenes at the 40th General Assembly in Belgrade
Post of Serbia is hosting the 40th General Assembly of the Association of Public Postal Operators of Europe – PostEurop, and the accompanying Business Forum on the development and application of artificial intelligence, on 16-17 October in Belgrade.
At the opening of the General Assembly, the delegates and guests were welcomed by Elena Fernandez Rodriguez, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of PostEurop. She spoke about the meeting's goals, development and challenges, as well as the priorities of the European postal industry. She thanked the Post of Serbia for its active participation in PostEurop.
The Minister of Information and Telecommunications Dejan Ristić pointed out that postal services remain crucial in modern society, despite the progress of digitization.
"It is up to us all to make the best use of the development of modern technologies and electronic communications in the application of traditional and the creation of new postal services, in addition to existing modern postal technologies - parcel machines, vending machines, robots, in order to maintain postal activity in the era of digitalization," said Minister Ristić.
He emphasized the importance of gatherings of international and European postal organizations, since, as he said, the challenges facing the postal sector are the greatest in the long history of business. "I am convinced that the upcoming meeting will give birth to new ideas that will preserve this very important activity", concluded Minister Dejan Ristić.
The Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation Jelena Begović pointed out: "Today, the postal industry is much more than the traditional sending of letters and packages. It is the basis of digital transformation and the implementation of new technologies, but also of economic development".
"Digitalization, artificial intelligence and machine learning are shaping our economy in a new way, but they also represent engines of further development," said Minister Begović. In these areas, the minister emphasized the necessity of establishing a balance between development and sustainability.
Begović pointed out that Serbia follows the trends in the field of artificial intelligence and reminded that our country was the first in Southeast Europe to adopt a strategy for its development in 2019, and a year later founded the Research and Development Institute for Artificial Intelligence.
The host of the meeting, acting director of PE "Pošta Srbije" Zoran Anđelković, spoke about the plans for the Post of Serbia to keep pace with the most modern postal administrations. He announced the robotization of five postal logistics centres by the end of the year, not only the largest ones in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Niš, but also in Kragujevac and Kraljevo. "We want to help our workers in sorting shipments," Anđelković said. He said that the Post of Serbia has great support from the Government of Serbia in terms of organization and plans for technical and technological development.
"The Post of Serbia employs 14,200 workers, we have 1,570 post offices, and we are present in 4,700 settlements. The only problem we have is our employees in Kosovo and Metohija, who are prevented from performing their jobs, from paying salaries and pensions to beneficiaries," Anđelković said.
Anđelković wished the General Assembly to make a full contribution to the development of postal traffic, as well as to the development of both cooperation and of all countries individually. He invited those present to be guests in Belgrade again at the specialized exhibition Expo 2027. Masahiko Metoki, General Director of the Universal Postal Union, addressed the Assembly via video link.
The General Assembly of PostEurop gathers the highest representatives of 55 public postal operators from 53 member states of PostEurop, high-ranking representatives of international organizations from the postal industry and officials of the Republic of Serbia, as well as domestic and international guests.
In the continuation of PostEurop, a Business Forum is being held on October 17, on the topic of the development of artificial intelligence.