Baghdad to bolster Iraqi passport protection

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Ministry of Interior announced plans on Tuesday to improve the Iraqi passport in order to make it more difficult to alter or duplicate. 

Nine international companies took part in a competition to create the new Iraqi passport, and so far even companies have presented a prototype, the ministry said in a statement. 

It is said that France, Germany and the United Kingdom were among the countries making bids for the contract.

The ministry said it aims to reduce the lengthy paperwork process no needed to gain a passport and will implement a new machine capable of printing out 200 passports in an hour.

It said the new passports will facilitate international entries and departures, claiming security measures at airports would be reduced to almost 20 seconds.

“The Interior Ministry is seeking to provide the Iraqi people the best passport in the world," the statement said.