Caption: Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Sen. the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith was officially presented with her diplomatic e-passport by CEO of Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), Mr. Andrew Wynter and his team today (April 6).
The Minister noted the security and encryption features of the new machine readable passports, sharing that the e-passports will assist with Jamaica’s engagement with partners with respect to visa facilitation. This she says will provide partners with “assurance of the highest level of security” as the e-passports are not liable to fraudulent activity.
According to Mr. Wynter, the e-passport is a serious milestone. He notes that with the introduction of the e-passport, Jamaica now joins the Public Key Directory which allows participating countries to share information about each other’s travel documents and provides assurance that persons are not obtaining Jamaican passports for illegal migration, among other things.
The e-passports were officially rolled out on April 3, and also includes a two level authentication for the holder of the passport. Jamaica joins 11 other CARICOM member states and over 160 other countries in issuing e-passports.
