The e-passport has officially been launched. Branded as the “next generation of travel documents”, the passport features the latest technology in anti-counterfeit security and is a step up from its predecessor.
The passport, (a collaboration between the Government of Saint Lucia and the Canadian Bank Note Company) was launched at a ceremony on Monday.
Ramy Khalil Director of Business Development at the Canadian Bank Note Company (CBN) spoke on the importance of the document which adheres to the highest international travel standards.
“Through close collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs we’re proud to support the government to finally introduce its new e-passport, joining more than140 countries around the world who have adopted this more secure and trusted form of travel. The new e-passport employs modern security design techniques, represents significant enhancement to the overall security of Saint Lucia’s current machine-readable book, (and) contains the latest overt and covert security features that are seamlessly integrated throughout the book,” Khalil said.
“CBN is proud to be a trusted partner of the Government of Saint Lucia. Dating back to its first passport implementation (in) 2006/2007, we’ve seen our relationship continue to grow, flourish and remain stable in supporting the government’s critical identity infrastructure. We’re pleased to continue to offer leading edge solutions to support the government; this new e-passport will be a source of national pride,” he added.
The document has several features including a microchip which is embedded in the rear cover of the booklet.
Although the e-passport was launched on Monday, discussions on the matter had commenced years ago, immigration expert with the Saint Lucia Border Control Agency Lucious Lake said. According to Lake, CBN started working on the process shortly after the machine-readable passports were introduced.
“It must be noted that soon after we went into the machine-readable passport in 2007 the discussion had already started to go into e-passport. There were numerous presentations from CBN on the matter. A lot of things happened and it didn’t take place but in the last two and a half years it was reinvigorated. We had the discussions with many other entities who supply passports as well but having had this relationship with CBN, the only plausible thing to do was go ahead with the CBN so here we are two and a half years later,” Lake said.
“We have deployed the new system; it is up and running (and) all the hardware (and) software in the office has changed. There are a few changes persons will see in coming forward to apply for new passports; it wasn’t easy. We have a unique e-passport with loads of Saint Lucian features in it, the latest beta of security measures (and) features on the passport. We can see our rankings worldwide where it pertains to passports (going) up,” he added.
Police Commissioner Milton Desir described the launch of the e-passport as critical. According to Desir, the transition to this system will undoubtedly allow Saint Lucia to enhance its border management efforts.
“It gives me a sense of elation to welcome you to this momentous occasion as we seek to not only embark on the technological evolution of facilitating the movement of persons but also to thrust our nation forward into what can only be a very promising future. The e-passport is said to be the next generation of travel documents and presents several advantages to holders,” Desir said, adding that the new system promises increased security features including protection against identity fraud through the use of increased biometric features.
“With the advancements of technology available to criminal elements the old operating system would inevitably be faced with major security threats as copying the security features becomes increasingly easier with the passage of time. As commander of the agency tasked with ensuring that such breaches do not compromise the integrity of the immigration process, I am pleased that today’s undertaking will see this risk mitigated and offer a higher level of protection for our travel documents and transactions,” he said.
Further, the commissioner stated, “we have observed the regional and international trend of shifting to the e-passports and the move by us will allow access to an integrated system that can only mean greater advances in our efforts to maintain secure borders as we facilitate the free movement of people which we are seeing emerging globally as the engine for economy.”