Post office will be the place of public trust in digital commerce: Minister

Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mostafa Jabbar hopes that the post office will become the birthplace of public trust in digital commerce. He said the ministry would take steps to get the post office out of the way. There is no substitute for applying digital technology to the post office, taking advantage of the immense potential of the digital age. The post office has to be built as one of the best service organization in the country. That is why the government is ready to help. The postal service has undergone a radical transformation by implementing the recommendations of the ‘Digital Service Design Lab’ recently formulated to digitize the post office.

He was speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of ‘Digital Financial Service Nagad’ Training Workshop at Dak Vaban Auditorium on Monday.

Secretary of Posts and Telecommunications Md. Khalilur Rahman addressed the function as a special guest. Director General of Postal Department Md. Siraj Uddin presided over the function. Nagad’s executive director Md. Safayet Alam made a presentation on ‘Nagad’ at the workshop.

The telecom minister said the vast infrastructure and network of the postal department across the country is a great asset of the country. If these are not utilized, none of us will be able to avoid liability. Just as ‘Nagad’ is working in place of money orders, what needs to be done to make the post office suitable for the digital age has been determined. Not all of the existing post office manpower is digitally skilled. For digital post office, they have to acquire minimum digital skills. Without digital skills, everyone will have to become redundant in the future, said the pioneer of digital technology development.

Highlighting the comparative differences between the post office and the courier service, the minister said that the courier service has the capacity to transport goods but only the post office has the capacity to deliver goods from door to door across the country. The Minister pointed out that the technical expertise of Nagad especially KYC system is one of the first and most successful methods of digital financial services in the country.

Mentioning that new technology has changed the world, the Minister said that the era of voice calls is coming to an end and in the coming days, the world will fully enter the era of data calls. Noting that the post office has no choice but to adopt technology to survive in the struggle for survival as an ancient institution, the minister said dinosaurs have become extinct due to their inability to adapt to the times.

Therefore, it would not be desirable for dinosaurs to have a history, the minister said, adding that if technology is not adopted, it will become unnecessary for civilization. Noting that this cannot be allowed to happen, the Minister highlighted the various programs taken for the establishment of digital post office and said that post office will no longer be known as dilapidated post office. The post office will be digital. To that end, under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we have started the work of transforming the post office into a digital post office. He said there would be no showroom-based trade in the future. Digital trade will be the main trade. For digital commerce, the post office is the biggest source of public trust in the transportation and distribution of goods. The Minister firmly promised that the post office would be set up in the same way.

The Secretary for Posts and Telecommunications hopes that the mobile financial service Nagad will play a stronger role in financial inclusion at the marginal level. He said the officials of the postal department got detailed idea about Nagad through the workshop.

The Director General of the postal department said a high-level government committee was working to determine the MFS service charge at a reasonable level.