President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov signed a decree щn introduction of terms of stage-by-stage exchange of existing passports of population to biometric passports on 29 December 2009.

In line with the decree, biometric passports will be introduced in Uzbekistan from 1 January 2011.

Earlier, the Government planned to start first stage of biometric passports introduction from 1 January 2010. In the first stage, employees of ministries and state bodies of Uzbekistan and individuals, traveling abroad, as well as citizens, who are receiving new passports, will get biometric passports.

All citizens of Uzbekistan will receive new passports in the second stage (2012-2015).

Biometric passports are introduced in Uzbekistan in order to ensure security of international civic aviation, improve protection of passports from falsification, improve mechanism on timely and clear identification of person identity, passing border, improving quality and efficiency of international air transportation.