The 4th Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao postal summit was held successfully on December 7, 2021 in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao via video conference. Participants made a summary and exchanged ideas in terms of the work on implementing Opinions on Promoting Postal Industry Development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (hereinafter referred to as Opinions). They also discussed opportunities and challenges faced by the postal industry in the context of cross-border e-commerce and shared policies and best practices for the green development of the postal industry. Ma Junsheng, Director of the State Post Bureau, Liu Aili, Chairman of the China Post Group Corporation Limited (hereinafter referred to as China Post Group), Leonia TAI, Postmaster General of Hong Kong SAR, and Lau Wai Meng, Director of Macao Post and Telecommunications Bureau (hereinafter referred to as CTT), attended the meeting and delivered speeches respectively. The meeting was co-chaired by Zhao Min, Deputy Director of the State Post Bureau, and Wen Shaoqi, Vice President of China Post Group.

Having actively implemented the consensuses reached at last year’s summit, postal collaboration among Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR increases to a new level this year, said Ma Junsheng. In August of this year, the Chinese delegation, formed by representatives from Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR, participated in the 27th Universal Postal Congress and effectively safeguarded national interests. Centered around implementation of the Opinions, the three parties, giving play to their comparative advantages, have made new achievements in promoting innovative, integrated, green and open development of the postal industry, and have laid a solid foundation for constructing the delivery service system that matches the world-class Bay area and city clusters.

In terms of future cooperation, Ma Junsheng hopes that three parties should expand exchanges, improve the efficiency of working mechanism, expand their horizons to integrate into the construction of the nation’s higher level of open economy and participate in the major opening-up practices, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and RCEP (the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), so as to speed up the acquiring of new advantages in international economic competition and cooperation. In addition, the three parties should continue to cooperate in various fields and explore in aspects like improving the “industrial chain plus logistic chain” service mode, establishing science and technology innovation alliance, and building postal network resource sharing mechanism so that they can become a new power to drive the high-quality development of the national postal industry and play a leading role in the construction of a powerful postal country.

Since the 3rd postal summit, China Post Group, as the “national team” of the industry, has actively carried out the major decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, constantly deepened practical cooperation with Hongkong Post and CTT, striven to improve the high-quality development of postal services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and supported the construction of the Greater Bay Area, Liu Aili said. The three parties have made great achievements through complementary strengths, deep cooperation and joint development. In terms of deepening practical cooperation, China Post Group has kept giving impetus to interconnected development with Hongkong Post and CTT, explored the building of new cooperation mode, jointly built postal network, coordinated the service market and promoted philatelic cooperation. With regard to giving impetus to the high-quality development of postal service in the Greater Bay Area, China Post Group has enhanced the network capacity, improved service abilities and promoted transformation and development of postal outlets, and sped up the construction of delivery network. In respect of supporting the construction of the Greater Bay Area, China Post Group has increased financial supply to support major projects, helped the development of agriculture-related industries and actively served urban construction.

Leonia TAI said that Hongkong Post will take the opportunity of postal cooperation to develop more services that meet the market needs, give full support to closer exchanges and cooperation with mainland post, work together to improve delivery network and support enterprises to vigorously develop e-commerce and cross-border logistics. Hongkong Post will rebuild the air mail center to boost efficiency and processing capacity, make use of the advantages of air and sea transportation and coordinate with the national development strategy so as to push the development of postal industry to a higher level. 

This year, CTT issued commemorative stamps to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the Communications Museum in Macao held a philatelic exhibition to introduce the development of the Greater Bay Area, said Lau Wai Meng. CTT will, as ever, support the national postal planning and development, continue to tell the story of “One Country, Two Systems”, strive to promote postal service scale and level in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and better integrate into the national development strategy. CTT will make the best of the Summit mechanism to better help the construction of the Greater Bay Area.

Three consensuses have been reached at the summit. Firstly, to adhere to the principles of “One Country, Two Systems”, “Patriots administering Hong Kong” and “Patriots administering Macao”. Based on the Summit mechanism, three parties will enhance cooperation and exchanges, policy coordination, resources sharing and mutual complementarity of advantages and jointly promote high-quality development of the postal industry in the Greater Bay Area. Secondly, to reinforce postal innovation and cooperation in the areas of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, expand international postal network, improve information technology system, create high-level cross-border e-commerce services and to fulfill the demand of the people for the postal services in these areas. Thirdly, to be committed to green and low-carbon development, cultivate green driver of growth, cooperate in the relevant research, participate in the work of greenhouse gas emission under the UPU framework and proactively respond to the ecological and environmental challenges.

The corresponding executives from relevant departments of the State Post Bureau, Guangdong Provincial Postal Administration， China Post Group, Guangdong Postal Branch, Hongkong Post and CTT discussed important issues and exchanged experience at the meeting.