Emirates Post and Swiss Post explore further areas of mutual cooperation

The talks centred on boosting the existing business service agreement between Emirates Post and GATS (Global Alliance of Transportation Systems), a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss Post.

The Swiss Post officials' visit follows the opening of GATS' third mail transfer Hub in Dubai in October 2003, under a Business Service Agreement between Emirates Post and GATS. The Dubai Hub was chosen because of its strategic location that provides GATS' postal partners an important transit hub to and from Europe and the Far East.

Beside Dr. Gygi, the delegation includes Mr. Geoff Formstone, Managing Director, GATS UK and Mr. Daniel Baettig, Chief Financial Officer, Swiss Post International. Dr. Gygi and his team are scheduled to meet the UAE Minister for Communications, His Excellency Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer, during the visit. They will be touring Emirates Post's Al Ramoul Sorting Centre, Electronic Document Centre and Empost. They will also be meeting officials from Emirates Sky Cargo.

"We see immense potential for expanding postal business ties between Emirates Post and Swiss Post. GATS has emerged as a major outsourcing player bringing streamlining and cost benefits to national postal partners," said Mr. Al Daboos. "The business service agreement between GATS and Emirates Post has laid the foundation for a strong relationship that we are sure will spill into other areas of cooperation. This visit from Swiss Post officials has provided the right platform to draw up concrete plans to establish mutually beneficial relationships in postal matters."

"We are geared to upgrade the services provided by our mail transit hub which has gained a number of customers because of the world-class infrastructure and the value added services it offers to mail operators. We are pleased to strengthen the cooperation with GATS, a company that has emerged as one of the dynamic players in the field of postal outsourcing," Al Daboos added.

Dr. Ulrich Gygi, CEO of Swiss Post, said: "This visit provides us with an opportunity to explore newer areas of cooperation between Swiss Post and Emirates Post. We have been impressed with the high standards adopted by Emirates Post. The airmail hub in Dubai is strategically located to serve the entire Gulf Region, having excellent connections to Europe, Africa and the Far East. This gives GATS a platform to enhance its current network by offering national postal administrations around the world with an effective and efficient mail aggregation and transfer network into and out of the Gulf Region."

GATS has been operating its own modern airmail distribution hub since January 2001 from a location close to London's Heathrow Airport. Since then, GATS has opened mail transfer hubs in Singapore, Dubai, Moscow and Kingston (Jamaica). More such hubs are planned for Sydney, Madrid, Frankfurt, Paris and cities in the United States and South America.