Uzbekistan issues 5 million biometric passports

The seminar, hosted by the Government of Uzbekistan, was organized by ICAO and supported by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Oberthur Technologies, which helped the Government of Uzbekistan to introduce system of biometric passports in Uzbekistan, sponsored the event.

Over 100 people are attending the event, including officials from Central Asian and Eastern European countries, as well as companies, which produce equipment and software for issuing electronic passports.

The Seminar is specifically addressing the needs of States to further enhance the integrity of the passport issuance process and ensure robust identification management in order to maximize border security and facilitation benefits.

In particular, the regional seminar focuses on the ICAO Traveller Identification Programme (ICAO TRIP) Strategy which was approved by the Council and endorsed by the ICAO Assembly in October 2013. The Strategy, responding to the global driving forces and needs of Member States, provides a framework for achieving the maximum benefits of travel documents in the future. It brings together the elements of identification management and builds on ICAO leadership in matters related to Machine Readable Travel Documents.

The passports with chips were introduced into circulation after 9/11 terrorism acts, when the governments of the countries and ICAO started to think on ways of securing passenger transportation, the volume of which now exceeds 1 billion a year.

Uzbekistan started to issue biometric passports in November 2011. Najmiddin Turakhodjaev, director of the State Center for personalization of Uzbekistan, said that the center produces 16,000 passports a day and now 5 million people already received such passports. He said that in total about 20 million people should obtain new passports.

Top-manager of Oberthur Technologies Olivier Prestel said that the French company introduced biometric passport system in Uzbekistan within three years, which covers all chain from gathering personal data to issuing passports and system of passport control and authentication at borders.

In Uzbekistan, Oberthur Technologies launched over 400 data collection points in over 250 areas and created a whole plant, which includes center for passport personalization and center for data processing.

Machine readable travel documents are passports, visas and ID-cards, which are used for travels. ICAO develops international specifications for such documents and related procedures for them.