Kuwait ready for new 'smart card'

SMART SYSTEM: The new card will be available for Kuwait citizens to replace the Civil ID card. (Getty Images)

Kuwait is ready to introduce a new 'smart card' system that will replace the existing Civil ID card, officials announced on Tuesday.

Musaed Al Asausi, director-general of the Public Authority for Civil Information, said official preparations for introducing the card were now complete. The card is more than a traditional identity card and will carry more information and have more uses.

He did not say when the card would come into effect.

The smart card can be “used to open electric entrance gates and for coordination of files in the Ministry of Health, as well as for dispensing subsidised material formerly listed on the family ration card,” reported the KUNA news agency.

Asausi said the General Authority for Civil Information was planning to include additional services on the card in future, although he did not elaborate as to what these might be.

The smart cards will be valid for five years, helping to keep photographs and information current.

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