Germany’s Veridos wins €340 million Bangladesh e-passport contract

World-leading identity solutions provider Veridos, a German joint venture, has sealed an €340 million contract to introduce e-passports in Bangladesh.

The long-term contract covers the entire value-chain for e-passports – from security paper right through to e-Gates.

The solution includes the set-up of a local passport factory with high-tech equipment.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, acting through the Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP), has commissioned Veridos with the supply, installation, and implementation of next generation electronic passports and border control systems.

The contract, signed in Dhaka on Thursday, will run for 12 years.

The project eases travel for Bangladeshi citizens and increases border control efficiency.

The government says Bangladesh will move from machine readable to advanced electronic travel documents that meet the highest security standards.

This includes high-tech colour personalisation technology to ensure the ultimate colour brilliance of each e-passport holder’s image, and improved visual verification.

With more than 160 million people, Bangladesh is the world’s eighth most populous country and will provide the highest output of passports with colour photos worldwide.

Veridos GmbH creates secure identification and identity solutions for governments and public authorities throughout the world.

Founded in January 2015, the joint venture between Giesecke+Devrient GmbH and Bundesdruckerei GmbH pools the expertise of the two largest German providers for high-security technologies to serve the international market.

In addition to its headquarters in Berlin and the operating facility in Munich, Veridos is represented around the world including in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, the USA, and the United Arab Emirates.

Hans Wolfgang Kunz, Veridos CEO, said they are delighted “to support Bangladesh in their transition to tamper-proof e-Passports.”

“The project covers the whole process for travel document issuance. It starts with enrolment, data management, and personalisation – all based on our well-proven IMAGO software.

“In addition, we will provide key public infrastructure and local document production.

“At the same time, we will establish state-of-the-art border control infrastructure including our VeriGO verification platform and the set-up of 50 e-Gates for automated border control at all international airports, seaports, and land ports in the country,” the CEO said in a statement.

Niels Annen, Minister of State at the German Federal Foreign Office, was present during the contract signing.

He said through the technological partnership with Germany, “Bangladesh will gain crucial expertise to prepare it for various challenges, whether we are talking about fighting counterfeit ID documents or terrorism.”

“Furthermore, a comprehensive transfer of technology and capacity-building in Bangladesh will take place,” he said.

“As a result of our cooperation, Bangladeshi passport holders will soon become the owners of one of the most sophisticated and secure types of passport in the world.”

Major General Md Masud Rezwan, Director General of the DIP, said: “Our citizens will get benefits from the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) -compliant e-Passports with convenient and secure travel.”

“With Veridos’s unique solution portfolio for the entire value chain for passports and their ID production expertise, we have found the perfect company to implement this turnkey project,” he said.

“With their support, we can enhance the technology by which we can assemble the e-passport booklets in Bangladesh. This creates highly skilled jobs and know-how transfer with Germany,” he added.