Nepal is extending its partnership with digital security solutions provider Oberthur Technologies (OT). The company has worked with the Nepalese government over the past five years in supplying 4.5 million machine-readable passports at 50 enrollment stations around the world, and now it has been contracted for an additional 2.5 million MRPs.
The overall aim of the solution is to provide Nepalese citizens with secure and reliable passport ID solutions. Through the 50 enrollment stations spread across Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Malaysia, Kuwait, Hong Kong, the US, the UK, and Nepal itself, citizens can register their biographic and biometric data to secure themselves passports. That data is immediately transmitted to the Nepalese Department of Passport in Katmandu, where it is processed by OT, allowing for a shorter, more efficient and more secure application process.
Speaking on the program in a statement, Nepal Department of Passport General Director Lok Bahadur Thapa said that the office is “delighted that the MRP project has been running smoothly ever since it started at the end of 2010,” and added that the “continued partnership with OT will make the passport service even better and more efficient in the future for Nepalese citizens wherever they may be in the world.”
While OT’s partnership with the Nepalese government is longstanding, the company has lately been more involved in IT security, having been chosen this spring by Samsung to provide the NFC secure element for its new Galaxy S6 smartphones, and having partnered with SecureKey this summer to develop cloud-based mobile ID management solutions for mobile devices. Still, as a co-founder of the Secure Identity Alliance, OT remains a major player in the development of government-issued electronic IDs, and has clearly earned Nepal’s trust.
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