PRINCIPAL SECRETARY IMMIGRATION LEADS KENYAN TEAM TO DEPOSIT KENYA ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE FOR EPASSPORT INTO INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION-(ICAO)PUBLIC KEY DIRECTORY (PKD)IN MONTREAL CANADA
the Principal Secretary for Immigration and Citizen Services, Amb. (Prof) Julius Bitok has led a delegation of Kenyan officials to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Public Key Directory (PKD) Ceremony for Kenya in Montreal, Canada.
This significant event involved the depositing of Kenya’s electronic signature for the e-Passport into the ICAO PKD database, a crucial step towards facilitating electronic validation of e-Passports globally.
The director general of immigrdtion services Evelyn Cheluget accompanied the Ps ,
During the occasion the delegation had the privilege of paying a courtesy call to Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar, the Secretary-General of ICAO. their discussions centered on Kenya’s active engagement in global civil aviation.
In attendance were Immaculate Wambua, the High Commissioner to Canada, and Ms. Charity Musila, Kenya’s Alternative Representative to ICAO and other techinical representatives
The global agency serves as the central repository for exchanging the information required to authenticate electronic Machine-Readable Travel Documents (eMRTDs) such as ePassport’s.
The security and facilitation advantages of e-Passports are grounded in the presence of an integrated closed-circuit chip which holds information of the holder and the electronic seurty
The benefits of e-passport can only be realized when border control points are able to authenticates the chip.
If the chip is not authenticated at border control, the e-Passport has little advantage over a traditional, non-electronic passport.
“Authentication of e-passport is the process of validating the authenticity and integrity of an e-Passport by verifying the digital signature on the chip.
To authenticate the e-Passport of a foreign traveler, the receiving State must have access to certain information from the issuing State.”
This would require states to exchange information through bilateral agreements.
If bilateral agreements were to be used, the volume of information being exchanged would result in a highly complex and ineffective system.
In recognition of this complexity, ICAO PKD provided a platform where states upload their own information and download that of other States without going the bilateral way.
Each State issuing an e-Passport establishes a single Country Signing Certification Authority (CSCA) as its national trust point in the context of e-Passports.
Kenya joined ICAO PKD in Dec 2022, and have Up to 15 months from the joining data to have it’s certificate imported.
All the preliminary arrangements have been done and ICAO are ready to receive Kenya for the ceremony on 13th February 2024.