The biometric ID card and passport project was approved on Wednesday during a working session at the Kasbah Palace chaired by Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani. The project will be submitted to the Cabinet meeting as soon as possible before being referred to the Assembly of People's Representatives (ARP), according to a press release from the Prime Ministry. The meeting was attended by the Minister of the Interior, the Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad and President of the National Authority for the Protection of Personal Data (INPDP). Last July, during a parliamentary debate, Interior Minister Kamel Feki announced that his ministry had completed the biometric identity card and passport project. The project was the result of cooperation between the various bodies dealing with personal data and involved Tunisian expertise, according to the statement. It respects the principle of national sovereignty as well as national and digital security, it added. President of the INPDP, Chawki Gaddes said last January that Tunisians risk not being able to travel by 2024 due to the lack of a biometric passport. He recalled the decision by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to no longer accept ordinary passports.
Source: EN - Agence Tunis Afrique Presse