On February 26, 2025, Maria Bolshakova, Deputy Director General of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications, presented the position of the Communications Administrations and designated Postal Operators of the RCC/CIS Region during a coordination meeting with the Restricted Unions of the Universal Postal Union.

     The meeting was the eighth and final meeting before the UPU Congress, which will be held this September in Dubai, UAE.

     During the meeting, the regional unions presented the respective regions' proposals for strategic priorities under the UPU's Regional Development Plans for the period 2026-2029, highlighted the main challenges to be addressed by taking into account the priorities outlined, and identified key areas where the implementation of projects and initiatives could be strengthened or expanded under the plan.

     The three strategic priorities that the RCC wishes to include in the Regional Development Plan 2026-2029 are:

     - digitalization and innovative development of the postal sector, including the introduction of digital technologies to optimize processes and digital services to improve customer orientation, while respecting environmental sustainability,
     - diversification and introduction of new services, improving their quality, with sustainable development of efficient and accessible universal postal services, including expanding access to goods and services in small communities, while maintaining the availability of classic services for “non-digital” customers,
     - development of e-commerce, expansion of cooperation and network integration between all players in the market for the supply of goods in the field of financial services, innovative technologies and modernization of basic postal operations, taking into account the need to address issues related to the frequently changing requirements of customs authorities of member countries, their tightening both in relation to postal operators and consumers of services.

     The main regional problems to be addressed by taking into account regional priorities:

     - decreasing efficiency of maintaining international flows in a unified postal territory,
     - investment unattractiveness of national postal operators,
     - the inconsistency or severity of current regulatory and tariff requirements with changing customer needs, and the digitalization of business processes and services.

     Expected projects or initiatives that could be strengthened or expanded as part of the Regional Development Plan:

     - market research and market studies of in-demand services for application in the international postal network, studying on a regular basis the experience of competing market players, such as express delivery companies and marketplaces organizing their own delivery services, to identify their strengths with a view to the adoption of best practices by postal operators, including with regard to the provision of e-commerce services,
     - the comprehensive transformation of postal operators into digital integrators that ensure the movement of goods using modern, competitive solutions and provide end-to-end delivery services using an extensive network of designated UPU operators,
     - developing common standards for the exchange of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) messages between all postal sector players (e.g. through API (Application Programming Interface) in order to restore international postal volumes,
     - developing operational and legal solutions within the UPU's activities to address regulatory and legal differences among UPU Member-States, thereby simplifying customs procedures for all participants,
     - ensuring that universal postal services, financial and social services are available to a wide range of people, taking into account the geographical characteristics of countries, their uneven economic and digital development, and the digital literacy of service users, in particular, expanding assistance to least developed countries, including through the resources of the Quality of Service Improvement Fund, to maintain the competitive level of the UPU's postal network in the world, ensuring the efficient delivery of both letter-post and commodity items
     - measures to develop postal financial services in terms of promoting the use of the PosTransfer trademark to increase customer confidence.