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Ecuador’s ICT ministry (Mintel) has signed an agreement with the mayor of capital Quito to develop the country's first digital city program.

According to minister Andrés Michelena, the project will include digitalizing national identity cards and passports as part of a public safety drive using facial recognition technology.

Ecuadorian capital Quito will launch public biometric facial recognition as part of the country’s first digital city program after an agreement was signed by the mayor and the government’s ICT ministry (Mintel), BNamericas reports.

The digital city initiative will include digitization of national identity cards and passports for a public safety project using facial recognition technology, as well as digital platforms to monitor parking spaces, track bus routes and estimated arrival times, and emergency systems in highway tunnels.

"Everybody talks about environment protection, but nobody remembers the people living there," Ricardo Hidalgo, dean of the university's health science faculty, told Radio Quito.

The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) has opened three new regional offices in Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates, Almaty of Kazakhstan and Cuenca of Ecuador to propel global smart city cooperation initiatives.

The organization will introduce achievements and goals of these new regional offices during its annual conference to be held at the Seoul Global Center on Tuesday.