ENG-2000 — Page 437

COMMUNICATIONS, THE MEDIA AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Serving both the business community and individuals, the delivery network of the international courier and Speedpost services has been extended to 92 destinations including Hong Kong's major trading partners such as the Mainland, Japan, the United States, Taiwan and Australia. A new SpeedpostFreight service was introduced in October to provide customers with the best value-for-money service by sending bulk consignments to all the Speedpost destinations around the world.

To further enhance the Speedpost service, the network of the Speedpost premium services has been extended to Tokyo and Osaka in Japan, as well as Frankfurt in Germany, in addition to Macau and Singapore. Speedpost premium service offers an even speedier and guaranteed delivery of document items to those destinations.

Following the introduction of Local Courierpost service for local express delivery of documents and packages in 1999, Hongkong Post introduced a new Local Courierpost Premium Service in January to provide guarantee of delivery within 2.5 hours. To meet customers' demand for more flexible and price-competitive services, Hongkong Post also introduced new flexible charges for Local Courierpost Standard Service from August.

Hongkong Post e-Post service, which turns electronic messages into physical paper mail, continued to grow during the year. This service is being used by both government departments and commercial clients.

To better meet customers' needs and enhance productivity, Hongkong Post has adopted a retail strategy to offer more agency services in counters. Besides the introduction of a reciprocal remittance service with Philippines Post and China Post in late 1999 and March respectively, Hongkong Post launched in April a PayThru Post service to accept payment of electricity bills at 45 designated offices. This service was extended in July to all post offices (except mobile post offices) and included the acceptance of payment for Towngas bills.

The new Hongkong Post Logistics service was launched in January in anticipation of the potential growth in market demand for a seamless, cost-effective and integrated one-stop logistics service. It covers a comprehensive range of supply chain management services, including the acceptance of orders on behalf of merchants at post offices and collecting payments from end-customers.

Seven sets of stamps were issued during the year featuring the New Millennium, Year of the Dragon, Hong Kong Museums and Libraries, Hong Kong Red Cross, Hong Kong Insects, 2000 Olympic Games and Centenary of The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. With the new initiatives incorporated in stamp design, Hongkong Post has brought to the public and philatelists pleasant surprises and novelties. The Year of the Dragon special stamps was not merely the first Lunar New Year special stamp issue in the third series, but was also issued with the first imperforated stamp sheetlet in local postal history. While the 'Museums and Libraries' was the first set of triangular stamps issued in Hong Kong, the 'Hong Kong Insects' was the first set of Hong Kong stamps printed with 480 dots per centimetre to show the very fine details of the colourful insects depicted. In May, the number of post offices equipped with a philatelic counter was increased from 26 to 38 to better serve the needs of philatelists.

To reinforce young collectors' interest in making stamp exhibits and to promote philately among students, Hongkong Post organised an Inter-School Competition on

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