He added that the company should further improve its core business, speed up the establishment of postal companies at the provincial level and reform of the postal savings business, as well as develop new businesses.

The company has set a revenue target of 67.05 billion yuan for 2007, an increase of 5.5 percent over the previous year, Liu Andong, general manager of China Post Group Corp, said earlier.

But there are concerns about the company's weak competitiveness in the profitable express delivery business.

In recent years, the rise of private express mail delivery companies and the growth of international delivery giants have placed increasing pressure on the State-owned postal system.

According to Yuan Guoli, director of the delivery bureau of China Post, they will make efforts to improve management, lower operating costs and undertake innovation in products, operations and management to improve their services and upgrade their competitiveness.

"It is true that we have an obvious advantage a network in over 2,000 cities that may take a long time and great effort for private or global firms to build," Yuan told China Daily.

                                                                         (China Daily 01/30/2007 page13)

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