Good Morning.

Today’s event is a very significant one for my Ministry and our Bahamas. In several ways it signifies both an end and a new beginning for us.

Firstly, today’s event marks the culmination of many years of research, planning and development

Secondly, this event signifies a new beginning as we now embrace, with much courage, modern technology and processes that will propel us further ahead in our endeavours to keep pace with our evolving global village.

Thirdly, as a nation, we will experience a new paradigm shift in the way we conduct business; how we utilize our knowledge, skills and abilities; how we move about in the world.

We say farewell to the old and familiar systems and processes, as we welcome the new and technological innovative systems and processes.

Ladies and gentlemen,

as early as 1994, the Government of The Bahamas began exploring ways by which we could upgrade our current passports and other travel documents. By the year 2000, we had advanced our effort to the point where we entered into discussions with a number of companies regarding this matter. Finally, on 22 December, 2006, the Government of The Bahamas signed a contract with Indusa Global, a Greenville, South Carolina based information technology development and consulting firm, for the amount of 12.7 million dollars to provide four systems.

They are:

In addition to these systems, there is also a supporting Key Management System for the generation and management of digital security keys for protecting and accessing the data stored in the passports and cards. The Key Management System is used to add security to The Bahamas passport chips and smart cards and forms the basis of authenticating that the e-Passport and e-Ids are in fact issued by The Bahamas Government.

This is an integrated project involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Department of Immigration, Ministry National Security; and the Data Processing Unit, Ministry of Finance. The ePassport and Machine Readable Visa Issuance Systems are components directly associated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the E-Identification Issuance System and Border Control Management Systems are components directly associated with the Department of Immigration.

This project involves four (4) Phases of implementation. The first phase addressed the development aspects of the project, inclusive of systems analysis and product development.

We are presently in the second or pilot phase during which the infrastructure and system backbone have been installed, inclusive of the Central Host located at the Data Processing Unit and the set up in the Passport Office, to begin the testing of the system and the process.

The remaining phases – three and four - will commence mid-January and will progress through to the end of July, 2008. During these two phases, we will implement the ePassport System in the Passport Office, Grand Bahama, Administrators Offices in the Family Islands and in our Overseas Missions. The implementation of the Visa Issuance System in our Consular Division in New Providence and our Overseas Missions will also occur in these phases.

We anticipate that both the ePassport and Visa Issuance Systems will be fully operational by mid-2008. By that time, we expect to be able to fully service the 170,000 plus passport holders and 2,000 plus Certificate of Identity holders. These persons will be able to apply for, and be issued with an ePassport or Certificate of Identity at 19 stations throughout The Bahamas and at our Overseas Missions. Foreign nationals will also be able to apply for and be issued with machine readable visas in New Providence and at our Overseas Missions.

We have had to and will undertake several actions and activities to facilitate our ePassport and Machine Readable visa initiative, and to ensure that our transition occurs as smoothly as possible. The Passport Rules of the Passport Act required amendments to accommodate changes in the schedule of passport fees and other requirements of the system. The same applies in the case of the Consular Fees Schedule, as regards visas. We have conducted training for our Passport Staff as well as the technical staff of the Data Processing Unit, and we will provide continuous training in this area. We have also been actively engaging, and will continue to engage our partners and stakeholders to provide them with information and to receive feedback from them on this project.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

our world is changing constantly. We must, therefore, keep pace with globalization, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, if we desire to achieve and maintain the highest possible rate of survival.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), of which The Bahamas is a member, has mandated that by 2010, all countries must be issuing Machine Readable Passports. By this initiative, The Bahamas will be ICAO compliant.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), as you may be aware, is the organization charged with the responsibility of helping to ensure the security of the global travel system, a key component of which is the integrity of travel documents. It is ICAO which also develops and sets standards and specifications for the same.

Faced with increasingly greater challenges, including the worldwide growth of passenger volume and the need to combat illegal immigration effectively, ICAO sought to develop specifications for Machine Readable Passports which were intended to increase protection against identity theft, heighten aviation security, as well as assist in the speedier passage of persons through airport controls.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

the security of our identity and travel documents is of paramount importance to us. We must ensure, therefore, that our passports and visas are resistant to fraudulent use, including the use of lost or stolen passports. The ePassport is the most secure travel document that exists today. This is why we have chosen to provide not only a machine readable document, but have taken the process one step further by providing a machine readable document with biometrics. We have just heard from Miss Ram who spoke in more detail about the ePassport and Machine Readable visas and their security features.

Based on the indicators of the overall direction for travel documents worldwide, the ePassports places The Bahamas in a well prepared position. Bahamian ePassport holders could expect to experience greater ease in the process on arrival in many countries that we frequent, as the requisite border management system for dealing with these travel documents would already be in place.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

as we progress from this point, we cannot and must not rest on our laurels. There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure our success with, and the sustainability of, this very important and highly innovative initiative.

As providers of passport and travel document services, my Ministry must adjust and adapt very quickly to the changes mandated by the introduction of ePassports and Machine Readable Visas –

We are also compelled to improve our internal systems and policies that drive our operations, and increase the levels of inter- and intra- agency cooperation and collaboration.

In essence, we require an even higher degree of commitment and greater effort from all of us.

The public must now be even more cognizant of several things:

Also, we will require greater cooperation and patience from the public during the transition from our current manual system to our new electronic system. We will now commence the orderly and systematic transition from the current passport to the ePassport. We will keep you informed of matters of concern to you regarding the ePassport and passport services.

We wish the public to also know that you should continue to travel using your current passport until either it expires or such time as you are duly notified otherwise, whichever occurs first.

As we will be phasing in the system in Grand Bahama, our Family Islands and Overseas Missions, and would not wish for any person not to be able to obtain a passport, we will continue to issue the current passports in your respective islands and at our Overseas Missions, until the new system becomes available at these sites. For a while yet, then, both the current passport and the ePassport will be in circulation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Bahamas’ ePassport, Visa, E-Identification, and Border Control Initiative is of significant national and international importance. It will enhance the security of our State and it is anticipated that, over time, it will ease the passage of our citizens throughout the world.

As a small and developing nation, we are proud to have been able to achieve this measure of success, which is due in no small measure to the commitment and determination of all who have been involved in the process from its inception to the present time. I wish to acknowledge the efforts of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, former Permanent Secretaries of this Ministry, and in particular, Dr. Patricia Rodgers and Mrs. Missouri Sherman Peter; and former Chief Passport Officers – Mr. Jordan Ritchie, Commodore Clifford Scavella and Mr. Jack Thompson. I take this opportunity to thank all of you, on behalf of the Government and People of The Bahamas, for your invaluable contribution.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let us, as a Government and a People, through our commitment to this and many more new beginnings, build a better Bahamas for our generation and the generations to come.

It gives me great pleasure, therefore, to officially launch the pilot of the Bahamas ePassport and Visa Issuance Systems.