The Ghanaian government has announced plans to upgrade current biometric passports being issued by the passport office to chip embedded passports to allow for easy transmission of data from the passport onto a computer for verification.

In a statement, the government said the new passport will run concurrently with the current ones and will be valid for all foreign travels.

Speaking in Accra at a conference of Heads of Missions, Minister for Foreign Affair and Regional Integration, Ms Hanna Tetteh, assured the Heads of Missions of Government’s effort in telling the Ghanaian story abroad and putting strategies and new opportunities in Ghana.

Participants also discussed Ghana’s diplomacy: challenges and prospects, Medium-Term Development Plan, budget and the new policy on internally generated funds retention, processing and printing of biometric passports at selected missions abroad from 2015, establishment of on-line visa and passport application system at missions abroad and the engagement of Ghanaians in the diaspora for national development.