The Ministry of Information Technologies and Communication (MITC) announced that one of the priorities for the year 2010 is the final transition to biometric passports only, and reduction of the costs for their production by 30 percent.

Currently, the minimum cost of a biometric passport is 1250 lei (about 70 euros). MITC said that the European Union offered Moldova a 2 million euros grant for the equipment, which will reduce the cost of these documents by 30 percent.

The new equipment will help to issue biometric passports 5 times faster than now. Current passports will remain in circulation until their expiry.

Thus, MITC is planning to issue only biometric passports since January 2011. In this regard, an action plan was set up in view of the full transition to the production of biometric passports, which is one of the main conditions of the European Union to liberalize the visa regime for Moldovan citizens.