Interior minister: Production of foreign passports practically halted in Ukraine

The production of foreign passports for citizens of the country has practically been halted, Ukraine's Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko has said at a press conference in Kyiv on Jan. 13. "Unfortunately, at the moment the production of passports by EDAPS [the consortium that produces foreign passports] has been halted because of a simple court dispute: It actually hasn't received payments in full for December,” he said.At the same time, the minister said that a monopoly in the sphere of passport production occurred in Ukraine in connection with an agreement concluded on the production of polycarbonate pages in foreign passports by the EDAPS Company.The minister said that this agreement was in effect until the end of 2009. At present, negotiations are being held on possible conclusion of an agreement on the production of these pages with companies of Germany, Italy, Israel and other countries."We can't stop using polycarbonate pages until a decision on this is taken, including one by the Verkhovna Rada. But they must be produced [only] after a detailed study of possible competitors on this market," Lutsenko said.