BD, Germany ink deal to issue e-passport

Bangladesh and Germany on Thursday signed a government-to-government agreement on e-passport following the government's decision to issue electronic passports alongside the machine readable passports (MRP) for the citizens of the country.

Director General of Immigration and Passports Department Major General Md Masud Rezwan and chief executive officer of Veridos Gmb H.Hans Wolfgang Kunz signed the deal on behalf of their respective sides at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and German Foreign Minister Niels Annen were present at the signing ceremony.

Addressing the programme, Asaduzzaman said, "It's a commitment between the heads of the governments of Bangladesh and Germany to introduce e-passport. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina signed an MoU with Germany on February 18, 2017."

"Through the signing of the agreement, we're moving towards one step ahead," the minister said.

Besides, e-gates will be installed at every airport and land port across the country, he said.

The government took the initiative to introduce e-passport for easing the immigration activities easily, the minister added.

On June 21, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved a project to issue e-passports alongside the existing MRPs to accommodate international demand as some countries, including Germany, do not accept MRPs.

The project titled 'Introduction of e-Passport and Automated Border Control Management in Bangladesh' will be implemented from July 2018 to June 2028 with the government's own financing.

Minister of State at German Foreign Ministry Niels Annenalso spoke on the occasion.