3 Write out other unknown words and word expressions and learn them.

4 Find Russian equivalents.

Provide assistance; postal development; digital divide; developing countries; physical and electronic postal network; international cooperation; spirit of service.

5 Find English equivalents.

Развивающиеся страны; улучшать почтовые операции; почтовая разработка; развитые страны; почтовая сеть.

6 Answer the questions.

1 Do the UPU and its members promote cooperation so that Posts may benefit from the know-how and expertise of others?

2 What training programme does Postal development involve?

3 Who is the director of development, planning and cooperation?

4 Have postal networks helped people to exchange messages?

5 When has the UPU become one of our most valuable forums?

7 Give a summary of the text.

Lesson 6

1 Study the following words.

to establish	основывать
transmission	передача
access	доступ
to achieve	достигать
effort	усилие
creation	создание

2 Read end translate the text.

Improvement in quality of service

Quality of service is improved in various ways. The team responsible for quality of service has established international mail transmission standards, and since February 2004, more than 80 countries have taken part in end-to-end testing, making it possible to monitor international postal service quality over some 350 in­ternational links. From March to June 2004, for exam­ple, 60% of the 4,000 test letters posted each week in more than 90 countries were delivered within five working days (J+5 standard). Thanks to the Internet, Posts can access analytical results updated weekly. Nevertheless, despite slow but continuous improve­ment in international service quality over the last 5 years, we are still far from the world standard of 65% that the UPU hopes to achieve by 2008. Through the QSF and other measures, the UPU will continue its ef­forts to improve quality of service worldwide.

The UPU has also set up a certification programme based on quality of service management techniques. Ukraine is the first to have so far received certification for quality of service management , but others are expected to join them shortly. For its part, the EMS Cooperative, which has 128 members, has managed to improve the quality of its service since its creation in 1998 through a rigorous evaluation pro­gramme. For the first quarter of 2004, the proportion of EMS items delivered on time worldwide was esti­mated at 82%.

3 Write out other unknown words and word expressions and learn them.

4 Find Russian equivalents.

Quality of service; International mail transmission standards; The EMS Cooperative; the test letters; the proportion of EMS items.

5 Find English equivalents.

Проверка «из конца в конец»; мировой стандарт; улучшение качества обслуживания; со своей стороны; международные звенья.

6 Answer the questions.

1 What thas the team responsible for quality of service established?

2 Haw many countries have taken part in end-to-end testing?

3 Will the UPU continue its efforts to improve quality of service worldwide through the 4 QSF and other measures?

5 The UPU has also set up a certification programme, hasn’t it?

6 Haw many members has the EMS Cooperative.

7 Give a summary of the text.

Lesson 7

1 Study the following words.

advent	появление, прибытие
undergo	подвергаться
lack	нехватка, недостаток; нужда, нуждаться
competitive	конкурентоспособный, соперничающий, конкурирующий
objective	цель
entitle	озаглавить
challenge	вызов
propose	предлагать
approach	подход

2 Read and translate the text.

Supporting postal reform

The world has changed a great deal since 1874. With the advent of technology, the disappearance of borders, the liberalization of markets and the increased compe­tition in markets once the preserve of national postal operators, these operators have had to adapt to the market and to customer needs. While many Posts have undergone profound changes in the last 20 years, many still lack the structural and com­mercial flexibility to become more competitive. Since its creation, the Postal Development Action Group has made headway, clearing the way for constructive dialogue with the World Bank and other regional de­velopment banks on the financing of postal reform in developing countries. With postal reform one of its objectives, the UPU organized, in 2003 and 2004, 9 seminars and workshops on postal regulation and the universal postal service, and has just published a work entitled Postal Regulation - Principles and Orien­tations, which presents the main challenges of postal reform and proposes several possible approaches