Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of the Interior, Manuel Homem, guarantees that the country will start issuing electronic passports to national citizens this year, as a way of adapting to international security standards, and that the Foreign Migration Service (SME) is working hard to ensure that the implementation of this travel document becomes a reality by 2025.
According to Manuel Homem, current passports will continue to be issued, but will lose their usefulness later.
The intention to implement an electronic passport in Angola has been around for over a decade, but it has never come to fruition, although the Government has already made several million euros available for this project, which remains in the Executive’s portfolio.
The creation of the electronic passport may confirm the country’s adherence to this system, already used in the European Union.
The use of an electronic passport is an obligation that must be fulfilled by all member countries of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The document is identified by an internationally established symbol printed on the cover and which, among other components, includes an electronic device in which the biographical and biometric information of its holder is stored.
It integrates a new generation of devices, ranging from facial recognition to the integration of a “contact or contactless chip”.
According to the minister, the Foreign Migration Service has been improving its system to implement this service.
“We will take this important step so that the country can be aligned with international standards that require us to make this change,” the minister assured this Wednesday, 2, during a “live” interaction with internet users, on his Facebook page, which he calls “the minister’s office”.
According to Manuel Homem, if Angola is not aligned with international standards, which already require the country to make this change, current passports may begin to be rejected in many countries.
“I can certainly guarantee that this year we will have the electronic passport available to Angolan citizens,” said the number 1 at the Ministry of the Interior.
However, the country has had the intention of implementing this travel document for more than a decade, a fact that led the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, to sign, in 2022, financing of more than 127 million euros to put this project into action.
The intention to introduce an electronic passport in Angola is not new. In 2019, the Executive had already expressed its intention to launch this document by the end of that year, which did not happen.
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