UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said with a global network and universal service mandate to ensure access for all, the postal sector is a key partner in the drive to deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development."On World Post Day, we celebrate the critical contributions of postal workers in connecting people around the world with essential services that improve their daily lives and boost the development of their communities," said Guterres, in a message marking World Post Day that falls on October 9 (today).The theme of this year’s World Post Day – “Post for Planet” – recognizes the many ways in which postal services are finding cleaner, greener means to reach our doorsteps day in, day out.   Read: "On World Post Day, we celebrate critical contributions of postal workers" “Post for Planet” is also a call to action for the postal sector to use its position as a connector between governments, businesses, and people to take a leading role in our fight against climate change, said the UN chief.Working with partners from across the logistics, financial and digital spheres, postal services have the power to catalyze positive actions across a wide range of other sectors, Guterres said."I thank the Universal Postal Union for leading this call to action and look forward to working together towards a more prosperous and sustainable future for all," he mentioned.

Acknowledging the ever-increasing uses of postal services in the digital age, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar on Thursday said that the country’s post offices have to be digitized to keep pace with the modernization process of Bangladesh. The Minister said this after vising the construction works of the country’s main post office in Gazipur’s Sadar upazila. “The postal service has become a reliable institution for digital commerce. Besides digitizing the postal service, we’ve also started providing digital trainings to 45,000 officials of this sector. We’ve created a masterplan the implementation of which will help the postal service to attain its desired standard,” said the Minister. Read: A group has long been unhappy with Nagad's success: Jabbar Jabbar added that the government has been able to take the decaying postal service to a good position. “The postal service has enormous infrastructure and manpower unlike any other communication service of the country. There is no alternative to the postal service in supplying daily essentials to remote areas. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the postal service played a vital role in transporting much-needed food and medicine instead of shutting down. This shows how necessary the postal service is,” Jabbar added. Read:Jabbar urges mobile opeators to boost service quality The main post office is being built at a cost of Tk 7 crore. Farid Ahmed, Postmaster General, Nasrin Parvin, Assistant Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Gazipur and other officials of the postal service were present during the visit.

Speakers at a webinar on Tuesday lauded Bangladesh’s incredible growth and success in the e-commerce sector during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to prompt responses from the government.