KINGSTON, Jamaica — With approximately 400 postal points islandwide,  Jamaica Post is being repositioned as a government service centre to improve access for citizens, says Minister with responsibility for Efficiency, Innovation and Digital Transformation, Ambassador Audrey Marks.

“One counter where a citizen can access government services online, with a person standing beside them to help if they need it,” she said, during the Universal Postal Union (UPU) 2026 to 2029 Operational Readiness for E-Commerce (ORE Plus) kickoff workshop, at the Central Sorting Office, 6-10 South Camp Road, Kingston, on July 21.

The minister said with the aid of the Inter-American Development Bank, “we expect this pilot to start this year with Jamaica Post facilitating government service centres around the island”.

She further noted that 108 post offices that were damaged by Hurricane Beryl and later by Hurricane Melissa are being rebuilt, pointing out that “restoration is on the way”.

Marks also noted that several will also be fitted out to deliver civil registration and national ID along with postal services.

She added, too, that express mail service is being expanded, moving from 66 locations to 100 locations in this financial year and 150 by 2027/28.

“So that every single constituency has at least two post offices that offer this service. We are placing connectivity and public Wi-Fi in rural post offices because a digital government is worth nothing to a citizen with no signal. More access, more opportunities, more efficiency for all people is my mandate,” she said.

Furthermore, she said the government remains focused on ensuring Jamaicans benefit from fast and efficient services through the Streamlining Processes for Efficiency and Economic Development (SPEED).

“The Government’s agenda… is captured in one word, SPEED – Streamlining Process for Efficiency and Economic Development. Over this past year… we were able to implement full electronic signatures, and that is accepted all across government and more and more in the private sector. We have implemented a data-exchange platform, so that information given once is never demanded twice; a national identification card that unlocks services; a digital wallet for documents. These are just a few of the initiatives that we have started to roll out, and much more to come,” the minister pointed out.

She said Jamaica Post sits at the centre of that agenda, “not at the edge of it, because you have 400 postal points here in Jamaica. That is a deeper reach than any bank, any tax office, or any agency in the country”.

Meanwhile, she urged the participants over the three days of the workshop to collaborate as much as possible so that the Caribbean can fully benefit from the global e-commerce market.

“Resist the temptation to build 14 slightly different systems… .  Where we can harmonise a customs data standard, harmonise it. Where we can share a platform rather than procure 14, share it. Where one of us has already solved something, do not let the next one pay to solve it again because the alternative is that global e-commerce remains something that happens in the Caribbean rather than something the Caribbean participates in,” she said.

The workshop brought together approximately 25 international participants from postal administrations across the Caribbean as well as UPU officials.  During the workshop, participants will receive technical training designed to strengthen operational efficiency across the postal sector, while preparing Caribbean member countries for the UPU’s new remuneration framework for the 2026-2029 cycle.

ORE Plus is the successor to the UPU’s Operational Readiness for E-Commerce Development (ORE 3) project which was implemented in the 2022-25 cycle to strengthen postal operators’ operational processes and information technology systems in support of the growing global e-commerce market.

— JIS