History and today
Postal services in Azerbaijan started developing during the time of the Safavid dynasty (XVI century). However, the creation of modern post as a form of communication dates to the first half of XIX century. The first post office was opened in 1818 in the city of Ganja.
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The first postal service in Azerbaijan was established on June 1, 1818. Mail forwarding was established in 1826 in Baku, March 12, 1828 in Nakhchivan.
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First category post offices were opened in Shusha, Shamakhi, Baku and Nakhchivan, and second category post offices were opened in Ganja and Guba in 1830, for the development of relations between Russia and the Caucasus in the territory of Azerbaijan.
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Maritime mail exchange was carried out for the first time between the Caucasus and the Iranian ports of Rasht and Astrabad in 1861.
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A postal service was organized between Tbilisi and Julfa in the years 1863-1872 in order to protect the transit trade of Iran. A post office was established in Julfa, which was the first international exchange of mail set up between Iran and Azerbaijan.
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The conveyance of mail in Azerbaijan by rail was launched via Baku-Tbilisi on May 9, 1883, and between Baku-Derbent in 1900.
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On October 6, 1986 the Ministry of Post and Telegraph
Economic and cultural development, social status of the population in the republic increased the demand for postal services. In this period, the number of postal networks as compared to 1920 increased by 9 times - up to 524 units. 402 units or 76.7% of postal enterprises were located in rural areas. In 1940, postal routes increased by 2.6 times - up to 6767 km.
The most difficult and at the same time the most honorable period of Azerbaijani post dates to the years of the Second World War. In these years, the courage and the will of postmen’s should be especially noted.The postmen, on which fell an additional responsibility for the timely delivery of soldier mail to the front line, the volume of which had increased considerably. Despite the hard times, postal workers worthily carried out their professional duties.
An international Postal Expedition was created in Baku in 1945. The event contributed to the movement, safeguarding and control of international mailings.
Significant work has been done in the post-war years, as well as in other areas of the economy.Thus, in 1970, the number of post offices in the country increased by 3 times - up to 1590, and in rural areas their number made up 1171. Number of letter mail increased by 3 times up to 75 million, parcels- 2 times, newspapers and magazines- 6.5 times, postal routes increased by 3 times- up to 20 023 km, auto routes increased by 9 times – up to 1 705 000 km.
At the end of the twentieth century, after the collapse of the Soviet Union our republic gained independence, and postal services entered a new stage of development. In the first years of independence, Azerbaijan experienced hard times in its postal service as other independent states.However, on January 1, 1997 postal service was separated from telecommunications and began operating as an independent entity, and postal service entered a new stage of development. Thus, in 1997, the postal service continued its work as Azerpost Production Association. Within the framework of purposeful measures and successful personnel reform, a short-term “Recovery and Development Programme” was adopted in March 1997, and in December the “Development Concept of postal services for 1998-2003” was approved. Since 1999, Azerpost has been operating as a state enterprise. As a result, the postal service has started to operate profitably since 2000.
Thefirst national “Rules of Postal Services” regulating the processes of postal service delivery was prepared for the first time in the history of postal services in 2002 and approved.
On 07.10.2004 "Azerpost" SE began to operate as national operator under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and on 31.08.2009 the organization-legal form of "Azerpost" SE was changed and the entity continued its activity as Azerpost LLC .
The Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Postal Service", adopted in 2004 and changes were made in 2008 for providing financial services, has accelerated the development of the postal service sector and created opportunities for the provision of new services through the network of the national postal operator.In 2016, by the decision of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan the "Rules for postal communication services" were revised and included into the State Register of Legal Acts of the Republic of Azerbaijan and sent to post offices for use.
Currently, as the national postal operator of the country Azerpost LLC, which has the most extensive network in the country, provides conventional and unconventional postal and financial services to all segments of the population and legal entities on favourable terms. Computerization of all post offices in accordance with modern requirements, provision with necessary technical equipment and the introduction of high-end technology, guarantees high quality and reliability of rendered services.
However, along with the national postal operator Azerpost LLC, over 60 private postal operators provide fast and mail courier services to legal entities and individuals.
Azerbaijan’s Postal Administration was accepted as a full member of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC) in 1991, Organization of Economic Cooperation (OIC) in 1992, Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1993, European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations(CEPT) in 2000.As one of the greatest successes of the Azerbaijani Post, our country was elected a member of the Administrative Council, which is the governing body of the organization, for the first time at the 23rd Congress of the UPU in Bucharest in 2004, in 24th Congress in Geneva in 2008 – to both governing bodies of the organization – the Administrative Council and the Postal Operations Council, and reelected a member of the Postal Operations Council at the 26th Congress in Istanbul in 2016.
Azerpost LLC has been a member of the UPU EMS Cooperative (the Express Mail Service) since 1998 and is an active user of the UPU’s Postal Technology Center products. Thus, by implementing a new tracking systems such as IPS.light tracking system since 2001, international money transfer system IFS / STEFI since 2005, Global Monitoring System since 2013, new tracking system IPC.Post since 2016,Azerpost LLC has been utilizing the capabilities of these systems.
After the Central Bank of Azerbaijan issued a permit (license) to provide financial services to the national postal operator in 2010, Azerpocht LLC joined the international payment systems SWIFT, payment system MasterCard in 2011, and within the country SPSCS (Small payment settlements and clearing system), AZIPS (Azerbaijan Interbank Payments System), GPP (Government Payment Portal)and other payment systems and uses the capabilities of these systems.
One of the biggest achievements of Azerbaijan in the international arena wasAzerexpresspost Communication enterprise was awarded gold-level certificate for the quality of express mail services by UPU EMS Cooperative for the fifth consecutive year among postal operators in over 160 countries.
Starting from the beginning of 2002, Azerpost LLC provides postal transportationby trucks on main routesby sending mail items and periodicals to all regional centers of the Republic of Azerbaijan till 14.00 on a day-to-day basis.
Republican postal routes:
1. Total distance of Baku-Gazakh-Baku on route 1 is 970 km;
2. Total distance of Baku-Balakan-Baku on route 2 is 887 km;
3. Total distance of Baku-Gusar-Baku on route 3 is 465 km;
4. Total distance of Baku-Horadiz-Baku on route 4 is 665 km;
5. Total distance of Baku-Astara-Baku on route 5 is 681 km;
6. Total distance of Baku-Terter-Baku on route 6 is 695 km;
7. Total distance of Baku-HXPDSH-Baku on route 7 is 108 km;
8. Total distance of Ganja-Dashkasan-Ganja assistant route 80 km;
9. Total distance of Ganja-Samukh-Ganja assistant route is 30 km;
10. Total distance of the Ganja-Goygol-Ganja assistant route is 40 km;
11. Total distance of Gadabay-Shamkir-Gadabay assistant route is 100 km;
12. Total distance of Neftchala-Salyan-Neftchalaassistant route is 100 km;
13. Total distance of Yardymly-Masally-Yardymly assistant route is 120 km;
14.Total distance of Lerik-Lankaran-Lerik assistant route is 120 km;
15. Total distance of Mingachevir-Yevlakh-Mingachevir assistant route is 80 km;
16. Total distance of Zardab-Ujar-Zardabassistant route is 80 km;
The total distance for vehicles on the main and assistant routes is 5281 km.
Azerpost LLC has 63 branch post offices, 7 communication hubs, 3 subsidiaries, 1496 post offices and 84 postal agencies.
Traditional postal services are: Letters (simple, registered, priced), postcards (simple, registered), mailing wrappers (simple, registered, priced), parcels (ordinary, priced), small packages (simple,registered), domestic money transfers, telegrams, secogrammes, fax service, special "M" bags.
The favorable geostrategic position of Azerbaijan, the formation of regional and international transport corridors as a result of purposeful policy carried out by the President and transformation of Baku into a large transport and logistics center have opened up new opportunities for our country in terms of transportation and delivery of international e-commerce products by post. Currently, a project is being implemented that allows Azerbaijan to act as a regional transit postal center (HUB) to carry out interstate e-commerce.For this purpose, a cooperation agreement was signed between Azerpost LLC and "Silk Way" Airline, which has extensive international air transportation capabilities, and started operating in July 2016.
The e-commerce products ordered in the People's Republic of China (the world's major cargo center) on the project are imported from the local courier companies in this country via the Silk Way Airline and delivered to Azerbaijan and processed by Azerpost LLC and transported and delivered to the CIS and 15 countries of the world ( the USA , Germany, Austria, Belarus, Great Britain, Czech Republic, France, Iran, Israel, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine).
At the same time, the EMS items sent from the USA and Germany are sent to the Russian Federation via Azerpost LLC on the basis of a contract concluded between the EMS service of Azerpost and the Estonian postal service.
Negotiations are underway with other companies acting as express carriers in China, South Korea and Singapore for the project expansion, and in the near future, it is planned to provide transportation of goods of e-commerce to other countries through the territory of Azerbaijan in even larger volume.
Launching "Shebeke" service centers was the most successful project of the year 2017 at Azerpost LLC.The services provided to the citizens by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies at the modern service centers commissioned on 10 February 2017 are concentrated in a single space. Presently, there are 10 "Shebeke" service centers throughout the country. Six of them are located in Baku, and 3 in Jalilabad, Zagatala, Sumgayit and Agdash. In addition to traditional telecommunication and postal services, services such as banking,financial,as well asairline tickets sales and touristservices are provided at "Shebeke" centers.
At the same time, "Shebeke" centers carry out sales of local and international payment cards, compulsory insurance, electronic signature, envelopes, postage stamps, postcards and air tickets, money transfers, payments for budgets, utilities, State Mortgage Fund and registration of mobile devices. Customers can also use self-service terminals at the centers. Citizens can also pay for utilities, mobile, communication and many other services through the payment systemSmartPay.
“Shebeke” service centers are open to citizens without a break seven days a week, including holidays.The main goal of the establishment of "Shebeke" centers is to provide services to the population in a centralized manner in accordance with high standards,provide citizens’ comfort,prevent waste of time, ensure transparency and eliminate bureaucracy.
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