Barbados is asking HID Global to supply its citizens with passports now that the island has officially become a republic. The country is still part of the British Commonwealth, though it formally replaced the Queen and elected its first President to become a more independent republic in the last few months of 2021.
Passports, of course, were one of the first orders of business for Barbados in the wake of that transition. The country has therefore inked a three-year supply agreement with HID Global that covers the design of the new passport, as well as the printing technology needed to issue documents and the HID Integrale software needed to manage the whole system.
In that regard, HID Global will outfit Barbados with printers and encoders that can be used to print personalized e-passport booklets. That technology will be deployed at Barbados’ primary issuance site, and at an emergency backup site at the airport to ensure consistent coverage should the primary site go down for any reason. HID Integrale, meanwhile, will keep citizens’ personal information safe, since it encrypts any data stored and sent through the system.
“We look forward to working with HID to finalize the new book design and implement the disaster recovery site,” said Barbados Home Affairs Minister Wilfred Abrahams.
“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,” added HID Global SVP and Secure Issuance & Citizen ID head Craig Sandness. “We look forward to meeting the needs of Barbados in the future.”
HID Global is already supplying several other countries with e-passport technology. Libya started using HID Integrale in March of 2021, and HID Global delivered a redesigned passport booklet for Estonia later that same year. The company also acquired De La Rue’s passport business back in 2019.
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