From June 3rd to 7th, took place in Montevideo, Uruguay, the 4th Follow-up Workshop of the ''Readiness for e-Commerce" (ORE) projects, which has been sponsored since 2017 by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal (UPAEP), for its implementation in the Latin American region.

The event was presided over by Roberto Cavanna Merchán, UPAEP General Secretary; Chokri Elili, head of the UPU Quality Improvement Program; Noor Adan, UPU Logistics Chain Coordinator; Néstor Calderón, UPU Regional Project Coordinator; and Laura Alquéazar, UPAEP Project Leader.

The colloquium, which is part of the technical assistance program and the regional development plan of both organizations, in addition to monitoring the ORE project, focused on the analysis of issues of quality of operations and airmail delivery, a debate that was also attended by representatives of Copa Airlines and Avianca airlines.

Every participating country has placed a high value on the agreements reached by the UPU and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), even though they are not mandatory for airlines, they do serve as a reference to show the best practices that have been enacted by several airlines.

During the meeting, great emphasis was placed on the need to continue improving quality indicators and the exchange of electronic information among postal operators, in order to continue gaining credibility not only with customers but also with the different postal authorities. In addition, it was warned that this cycle of the ORE project should conclude in 2020, so it is essential that the countries of the region make as much progress as possible in the national road-maps and action plans.

In this Workshop, the call for the Third Extraordinary Congress of the UPU, to be held from June 24 to 25 in Geneva, Switzerland, was made public, where the main topics will be: the new Strategy for the 2021-2024 period, the 2030 Postal Vision and the modifications of the remuneration system. The UPAEP General Secretary, Roberto Cavanna, highlighted the importance of this next Congress and the need of reaching it with a regional consensus on these issues.

Representing Cuba in this 4th ORE Workshop were Eldis Vargas Camejo, vice-president of the Cuban Postal Business Group and head of the national project team; and José Manuel Darias Cabañas, head of the Postal Operations Office of the International Exchange and Courier Company. Vargas Camejo presented, with very good reception among the participants in this UPAEP event, the experience of Correos de Cuba regarding e-Commerce, through the website www.correos.cu and its App for mobile devices with Android operating system.