Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior (MoI) revealed last Feb. 21 that it had won the highest recognition and achievement of having the best electronic passport for 2018 at the annual international conference: The High Security Printing Europe, Middle East and Africa (HSP-EMEA) held in Warsaw, Poland from Feb. 19-21.
The HSP EMEA is an annual prestigious event which recognizes security breakthroughs and new technologies which mostly involve government-issued and -specified documents. These basically involve fiduciary records, currency, excise stamps, e-passports, visas, ID cards, vehicle licenses and related documents, and giving priority on banknotes and the evolving technologies for travel and ID documents.
Kuwait wins Best e-Passport Prize for 2018
According to the Asst. Undersecretary of Citizenship and Passports Affairs, Major General Sheikh Mazen Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah, and as echoed by the Ministry’s General Department of Public Relations and Security Media, winning the award was truly a big moment for Kuwait, which all of the citizens take pride in.
Kuwait had submitted a worksheet that contains all the details and description of the new e-passport project, which incorporates advanced technology and security components which pass international standards, the Asst. Undersecretary added.
The updated Kuwait ePassport system incorporates important technical modifications which not only involve the new physical booklet design, but more importantly, it underscored the need for a more refined production process, innovative systems and up-to-date service centres.
Of note, the new ePassport’s security design has 52 new security features and a sleek new design which illustrates Kuwait’s unique cultural identity. The advancement in the production process highlights a substantial increase to the current number of passports being produced at 1,500 to 7,000 on a daily basis. That, while lowering resource-intensive processes and shortening the issuance cycle from five days to one.
Furthermore, the biometric data encrypted in the ePassport can now be accessed via mobile enrolment units, and there is an emergency protocol which allows independent function of the issuance system which warrants personalisation of ePassports without the need for other external systems.
Upon deconstructing and analysing the technical components of Kuwait’s national security project, the HSP-EMEA evaluation committee awarded the distinction to the Gulf State.
The annual convention saw a number of participants from various government agencies, major businesses, international banks, and security record manufacturers.
The previous year saw Finland taking home the major distinction, and both Spain and Ireland in 2016.