National ID card launched in Qatar

The national ID card serves as easy and secure proof of identity and residency and also provides access to various services and benefits. With the increasing risk of identity theft and the growing need to better manage citizen security, the Government of Qatar sought to increase the level of trust in the identity of individuals who present these ID cards. The addition of biometric identifiers on the ID cards was selected to provide that additional level of trust.

Qatar has a total population of 900,000 people, of whom around 200,000 are Qatari citizens.

Partners in the project include:

• Daon, from the US, provides the National Biometric Infrastructure, the core biometric infrastructure product - DaonEngine - and finger, face and iris biometric snap-in interfaces to biometric matching algorithms,
• BellID, from the Netherlands, supplies the card management system,
• ProtechT, from Dubai, provides systems integration on Network Security, Biometric Identification Systems, Smart Cards, Digital Signatures
• QPGI, from the Sultanate of Oman, provides hardware and software infrastructure, and systems integration,
• Gemalto provides cards, from its ID dedicated structure in Finland.