Macedonia To Roll Out Electronic Passports

Macedonia will begin registering its citizens for electronic passports this month, and the government expects to issue approximately 1.5 million passports by the end of 2009, according to Germany-based vendor Giesecke & Devrient. The electronic passport carries a 72K chip to hold personal data, such as a passport photo and potentially other data. In addition to passports, the Republic of Macedonia will produce personal ID cards and driver's licenses, which are to be issued in the fall. In November 2005, Giesecke & Devrient was awarded the contract by the Macedonian government to provide a system for producing the passports, 1.8 million personal identity cards and 500,000 driver's licenses. The project is worth approximately 23.5 million euros (US$ 31.4 million), the vendor states.