The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (郵政省) was one of the ministries in the Japanese government. It was formed on 1 August 1952 by the merger of the Ministry of Postal Services (郵政省) and the Ministry of Telecommunications (電気通信省), which themselves superseded the Ministry of Communications (逓信省) from 1 April 1946. The ministry introduced the POSIVA system for giving aid to foreign countries in January 1991. In January 2001, the ministry was merged with other ministries to form the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The Postal Services Agency, under the new ministry, continued the POSIVA program.