ICT minister confirms biometric passport fee cuts

Starting from March 14 biometric passports will cost less, Information and Communication Technology Minister Pavel Filip told a news conference on Wednesday, Info-Prim Neo reports. The fee for getting a biometric passport done within 6 hours will be 1,400 lei instead of 3,000 lei, which is a 53% cut. The passports issued within 24 hours will cost by 40% percent less, and those issued within 30 days by 90 lei less, coming at a fee of 760 lei. The ICT minister said the fee cuts are possible due to optimization measures in respect of transportation, communication and other costs at the ID agency Registru. Pavel Filip didn't deny that Vladimir Molojen resignation from the post of Registru's director, which was announced today, could be related to the agency's old pricing policy. Pavel Filip went on to reveal that fee cuts would be announced soon by other agencies subordinated to the Ministry as well. Minister Filip said he requested the activity reports of the 8 subordinated agencies and found that not everything was going as it should. From 1 January 2011 Moldova has been issuing exclusively biometric passports as a requirement in EU-Moldova negotiations on a liberalized visa regime. Earlier the ICT Ministry announced that the biometric passports would cost no more than 75 euros.