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Even ministers fingerprinted for French visa
By Santhush Fernando
Even Sri Lankan Cabinet Ministers will be forced to give all ten fingerprints to the French embassy here to obtain visas to go to France as would any and all Sri Lankans.

Sri Lanka followed Mali as the second country where the system was introduced by France on an experimental basis from Wednesday.

Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama was one of the first ministers to undergo the fingerprint and picture scanning at the French Embassy in Colombo on Friday, when he went there to get a visa.

The system is slightly different from techniques used by the United States or Britain and a French embassy official said electronic visa processing would be much quicker with less room for scams.

He said 15 other European countries were likely to adopt the same procedures soon. The French official said the countries for fingerprinting were selected on a representative basis -- one in Africa and one in Asia.

He assured there was no discrimination and the Foreign Ministry in Colombo had been informed of it. About 3,000 Sri Lankans visit France annually.

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