From 1 January 2011 Moldovan citizens will be issued exclusively with biometric passports, under a law that passed first and second reading in Parliament on Friday, June 18, Info-Prim Neo reports. Ordinary passports, which will continue to be issued until the end of the year, will however remain valid until the expiry date indicated in the document. Deputy ITC Minister Dorin Recean said the current price of 1,320 lei of a biometric passport would be considerably reduced until the end of the year. The European Union is offering Moldova significant logistical and financial support for the introduction of biometric passports on a large scale, so their price could approach to that of an ordinary passport, which costs 250 lei, the minister specified. Biometric passports represent a precondition for Moldova in getting hold of a liberalized visa agreement with the EU. “The biometric passport is an instrument that helps the state control migration flows”, explained Dorin Recean. A number of EU member countries will also start issuing biometric passports from 1 January 2011, joining those which have already implemented the procedure.