Afghan State Printing House Project Celebrates Ground-Breaking Ceremony for Training Platform in Kabul

The Afghan Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi, stressed: “The Afghan State Printing House Project is not the first infrastructural project implemented with Germany. Germany’s cooperation with Afghanistan has historical roots.”

The German Ambassador in Kabul, Mr Haßmann, emphasised: “It is a particular pleasure for me to take part in the ground-breaking ceremony for the Afghan State Printing House. Once the state printing house is complete, Afghanistan will have a very important additional capacity at its disposal, being able to produce its own tamper-proof documents. This project is also a remarkable model of Afghan-German cooperation – not only because of the level of funding that was provided by both, the Federal Government of Germany and the Afghan Government, but also due to the close cooperation with the German partner institution of the Afghan State Printing House, the German Federal Printing Office “Bundesdruckerei”.

The Afghan State Printing House shall reduce security-related document abuse, improving the efficiency of Afghan security agencies and public administration. The printing house will enable the Afghan government to produce highly secure documents according to international standards and regulations, ensuring the secure authentication of individuals.

Besides constructional measures, the activity includes equipping the new state-owned company with modern and highly technological machinery as well as supporting the Afghan partner in developing necessary organisational capacities to correctly manage the new state-owned company. Constructing the training platform shall finish early next year.

The Afghan State Printing House Project (ASPH) is being implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office (AA). In cooperation with the Afghan Ministry of Finance (MoF), the project aims at establishing a highly secure production facility in Afghanistan that is able to produce national security-related documentation according to international standards and regulations. This shall improve the efficiency of Afghan security agencies and public administration by ensuring the secure authentication of individuals. The AA funds the project at a total cost of almost AFN 3 billion.