Postal Services have a great role to play in the overall Strategy of development since development requires regular, reliable and rapid Postal links. For efficient accomplishment of these tasks, creating a postal Union at any level is unquestionable. It was on this ground that the Pan-African Postal Union (PA PU) has been established in Arusha (Tanzania) in 1980.

The objectives are to maintain and extend cooperation and harmonize tariff structures among member countries as well as to promote the establishment of multi-national, regional and Sub-regional Postal training institutes in Africa. It also includes harmonizing the position of member countries during international conferences in the field of postal services in particular at UPU meetings, publishing information and research materials on postal services for the benefit of member states and encouraging the exchange of information and staff between them.

Since its inception, in its ten-year cardinal efforts, PAPU has established in space and time a connecting link among the different nations of the continent. It has prepared a standard routing plan for all member states to make a better choice among the various possibilities of air mail Conveyance. With the assistance of UPU, PA PU has prepared a document on the methods and tables with a view to knowing the traffic of the postal services. A contract with the African Airlines Association has also been made. Extending its performance, PAPU has also started introducing new services such as Expedited Mail Service (EMS) which is by now being practiced in twenty-six member states including Ethiopia. So, it is dare to say that PAPU has done best in achieving harmonized positions, mail circulation and professional training.