China Sees Promising Postal Sector: Official

"The upcoming 22nd Congress of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in Beijing will provide a good opportunity for China's postal sector to exchange with and learn from its foreign counterparts, which will promote the postal industry in China," said Liu Liqing, director of the State Post Bureau.

China's postal sector is making headway in spite of all the difficulties it now confronts, Liu said, adding that this sector will soon reverse its losses and start to show a profit.

Last year, the postal sector was separated from the telecommunication sector, which weakened its strength to some extent. At the same time, its traditional services, including the delivery of mail and parcel and the distribution of newspapers and magazines, are facing strong competition from other sectors in the new market economy.
The postal sector reported a loss of 14 billion yuan (1.7 billion US dollars) in 1998.

However, it does boasts good credit, and a nationwide postal network with international links, so the industry still has great potential, Liu said. The industry has th confidence to cut the loss by 7 billion yuan this year.

In a bid to provide satisfactory and comprehensive postal services to the public and operate at a profit, the postal sector must modernize by upgrading its technical level and training more qualified personnel, he added.