State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said today that the government has adopted a plan to convert local post offices into smart service points (SSP) as part of the journey to build Smart Bangladesh.

Post offices will provide more than 325 e-government services as well as regular postal services, he told reporters after the inauguration of "Koira", a smart post centre in Khulna's Koyra.

As a result, people can easily receive all e-government services including banking-related ones, at remote villages, he added.

Along with economic inclusion, it will play a role in eliminating the digital divide in the country.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, also the UNDP goodwill ambassador, inaugurated the smart service point.

Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Director General of Postal Department Tarun Kanti Sikdar, and Policy Adviser of A2I Anir Chowdhury were present at the event.

"Initially, on an experimental basis, we have started the work of converting five post offices into smart post centres. Koira is the first journey of this initiative. We will soon implement 500 more such centres," Palak said.

He also stressed on the need to create a digitally inclusive society and said the goal was to deliver services to every doorstep in the country, including in remote areas, using the vast network, huge infrastructure, and manpower of post offices.

"We have started the journey to reach another dream destination of building Smart Bangladesh by 2041. With the smart postal system, it will be possible to deliver goods through various hubs in and around 10,000 post offices of the country," he said.

The state minister said the SSP initiative is a concerted effort to integrate digital solutions with traditional postal services.

He expressed strong optimism that these service points will revolutionise accessibility and efficiency in rural areas of Bangladesh by hosting facilities like parcel tracking, bill payment, and e-commerce.