Work has started on a digital, high-security passport to be used by Barbadians as the country looks to the future as the world’s newest republic.
The Mia Mottley administration has contracted a Texas-based identity solutions firm, HID Global, to design the passport as part of a three-year supply agreement.
Vice President of Sales for Latin America and the Caribbean Jorge Castrillo told Barbados TODAY on Wednesday evening that the company will also be setting up a disaster recovery site at Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA).
“We have been awarded this project and we are working together with the Immigration Department. The passport, it’s already what we call a biometric passport, is already an electronic passport,” Castrillo said.
“But this new generation of use, this new version of the passport, contains much more security. It has new technology in order to make it more secure, more difficult to be counterfeited and also it contains additional electronic features in order to make the passport one of the most secure and advanced passports in the world,” he pointed out.
Asked how long before the new Barbados travel document would be ready for use, Castrillo replied: “This is something that we are currently working on. We are working hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Home Affairs and mainly with the Immigration Department and I have to refer back to the Immigration Department in order to answer this question.”
Regarding the disaster recovery site at the airport, Castrillo said it is an important piece of technology in support of the e-passport.
“The main activities of this disaster recovery is to serve as a backup for the main site, but also it might help if necessary. If for instance there is a peak in the production or in the personalization of the passport, it might also help in order to mitigate this extra demand,” he explained.
When contacted, Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams referred Barbados TODAY to the Chief Immigration Officer Margaret Inniss who could not be reached.
But in a news release dated February 15 and issued in Austin, Texas, Abrahams is quoted as saying: “We look forward to working with HID to finalize the new-look design and implement the disaster recovery site.”
Barbados is considered to have the Caribbean region’s most powerful passport, according to the Henley Passport Index.
The release also said that the creation of a disaster recovery site at the airport is to ensure business continuity should the main passport issuance center be compromised.
This is composed of technology upgrades as well as support for the main issuance site.
“HID Global is proud of our partnership with Barbados as the supplier of the country’s passport and would like to congratulate the people of Barbados as they take this historic step. We look forward to meeting the needs of Barbados in the future,” said Craig Sandness, SVP and Head of Secure Issuance and Citizen ID Solutions of HID Global. (EJ)
