"Many countries have applied the idea of the smart card but in a limited scope," Ahmed bin Attiyah Allah al-Khalifa, deputy head of the national center for statistics, said late Tuesday.

"We intend to allow citizens to carry one card instead of the many cards they have to carry."

Khalifa said that the "comprehensive" Bahraini program would be the first of its kind in the Arab world, and only the third globally after Malaysia and Hong Kong.

The United Arab Emirates said in October it would launch a similar national card and that it was working with French telecoms and electronics company Sagem to develop the program, but without giving a launch date.

Britain also announced in October that it would implement a compulsory national ID card, citing the need to be in harmony with similar programs in other European Union states.

But British rights groups fear the introduction of such a system would give the government too much power to track individuals. Authorities, however, see such cards as vital tools in fighting crime and terrorist groups.

SPACE.WIRE