(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – A new electronic border management system may be put into operation in November. The Border Management System has been developed, tested and approved recently, and is intended to increase national security and make managing the flow of persons easier, the Foreign Affairs Ministry states in a press release.
In February, Suriname signed an agreement with Canadian Bank Note (CBN) which was to develop and implement the system. Afterwards, a commission ‘Implementation Border Management System’ was appointed to create the prerequisites for operating the system. Early this month, the commission headed by Foreign Affairs’ permanent secretary Lucretia Redan left for Canada to test the system. Redan approved the software on 5 October and the necessary equipment will be shipped to Suriname soon. The new system is an integrated border management system that registers and identifies incoming and departing travelers. The system also offers the option of checking travel documents for authenticity and can help identify criminals and other persons included on blacklists. The system will be installed at the J.A. Pengel Airport and linked to the Ministry of Justice and Police, the Bureau for National Security, the President’s Office, the CIVD, the Immigration Department and Foreign Affairs.
In the second phase, the system will be introduced at the border posts in Nickerie and Albina. At the start, the project’s costs were estimated at 2.2 million Euros, while the system was to be operational in September. CBN is specialized in producing Canada’s bank notes, postage and tax stamps and identity cards, and already supplies machine-readable passports and bank notes to Suriname. In the CARICOM, the company supplies document security systems and border management solutions.
