NEW DELHI, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines has expressed interest in understanding India's "unique identification number" (UID) system, locally called AADHAR, and sent a special delegation to New Delhi for the purpose, said India's external affairs ministry official on Thursday.

Secretary (East) of external affairs ministry Preeti Saran said that during the bilateral meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Philippines President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, the latter appreciated India's UID and expressed interest in understanding the system.

The "Unique Identification Authority of India" (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established in the country with the objective of issuing UID numbers to all its residents in order to eliminate duplicate and fake identities, and easily verify and authenticate identities in a cost-effective way.

The first UID number was issued on Sept. 29, 2010. The Authority has so far issued more than 111 crore (ten million) AADHAR numbers to Indian residents.