Delegates for the forthcoming UN Climate change conference (COP 18/CMP8) to be held in Doha will get visas for Qatar within seconds with a new e-visa system in place, an official of the organising committee has said. “The new system, developed by the IT committee in collaboration with officials of the Ministry of Interior (MoI), can issue as many as 5,000 to 10,000 visas online daily,” Hassan Al Khalf, Deputy Director General of the organising committee and head of IT committee of COP 18/ CMP8 was quoted as saying by Al Sharq yesterday. Around 17,000 to 20,000 people from 194 countries, in addition to more than 7,000 representatives of the civil society organisations, 1,500 journalists, including 100 TV channels, are expected to converge in the country next month for the conference. “Delegates will be able to obtain visas after they enter personal details such as name, date of birth, passport number, nationality, type of participation — and they will be able to get visas within two seconds,” Al Khalf told the daily. Delegates, however, would need approval from the United Nations (UN) database before they get Qatari visas. “We faced problems when we tried to link our system with that of the UN because it was outdated,” Al Khalf said, adding that Qatar sent IT teams to the UN headquarters to match the systems. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) sent four missions in January, February, June and September to prepare for the COP 18/ CMP8 and these missions have permanently stationed in Qatar, Al Khalf said. He said that the UN experts appreciated the e-visa system developed by Qatar and recommended it to the next participating country. “We are going to monitor this system and its deficiencies and see if we can use it for Fifa 2022,” he added. The 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol is to take place from November 26 to December 7, 2012 at the Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha. The Peninsula

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