The proposed national identification card is essential because it will provide and carry vital personal information.
Ministry of Defence, National Security and Immigration official, Mr Joji Washington told a consultation forum the proposed national ID card was to help curb cases of false identification.
He said there had been cases of passports and birth certificate falsifications.
“This is why the Ministry of Defence has taken this proactive approach to introduce the national ID card,” Mr Washington said.
“Government will include a bio-metric feature, which will be encrypted into the card to add to its value otherwise it will be just an ordinary card.”
Mr Washington said most countries had adopted this concept because of its ability to interface with e-passports.
He said the global approach was for Fiji to introduce a card which had bio-metric security features.
“The project runs concurrently with the e-passport platform. Fiji needs to look at it holistically and each government department and ministry has its own input into the introduction of the card,” Mr Washington said.
He said the project would benefit the Ministry of Education, Elections Office, Fiji Police Force, (BDM) Births, Deaths and Marriages, FIRCA, Immigration, FNPF, LTA and many more.