Can Bangladesh be prosperous with a passport that does not fly?

Bangladesh passport currently ranks 99 in the Henley Passport Index. We have visa free access to 38 destinations. Among the countries in the South Asia region, India ranks 81 with visa free access to 57 destinations, Pakistan ranks 102 with visa free access to 31 destinations. The South Asian nations are quite in distress (Nepal ranks 100, Bhutan 88, Sri Lanka 97) with the exception of Maldives which ranks 53 with visa free access to 92 destinations. 

Our wings have been clipped in recent years, with doors shutting down or tightening for countries like Indonesia, UAE, and Thailand. We do not have official accounts that explain the sorry state.

The public knowledge is that a spike in illegal migration in recent years is a key factor contributing to the weakened status of our passport. For reference, Bangladesh ranked 97 in 2019, 104 in 2022, and 101 in 2023.

This suggests that our position has been stable in the tail end. But the pain probably has increased as countries like Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, UAE in addition to Indonesia have strengthened their guards against us. Can Bangladesh really become an economic powerhouse with a passport that does not fly?

I have to travel round the clock for my work. My destinations include a wide range of countries across Africa, Europe, Asia. There was a time I had to travel to Delhi every other month to get my visa for African destinations. That problem has somewhat been addressed.

On the flipside, Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, and Southeast Asia have become inaccessible. Even with my passport which has stamps of more than 40 countries, I struggle to get visas on time.

The economic cost of it is excruciating. Imagine workshops and seminars where I am the lead and the host yet my counterparts are not sure when I can travel. Imagine contracts being cancelled because clients are not sure whether we can be on the ground. Our passport does not allow a company to become global with its foot in Bangladesh.

Is it therefore surprising that many of the large business corporations and their founders are trying to find a second home, a second passport that can take them miles?

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangladesh is not at the heart of the economic growth agenda. The economic growth agenda is governed by the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industries, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment.

I barely see a representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in our discussions on export competitiveness, trade, and SMEs. If you visit the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you will struggle to find the word trade. In fact, many of the pages do not function. There are plug-ins that do not work. There are links that do not open.

While doing my research for this Op-Ed, I failed to retrieve any meaningful evidence on how I can engage with our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to engage in discussions related to international trade. This disconnection between economic growth and foreign affairs is a mindset problem that we must address.

In Bangladesh, whenever a business idea is formed, it looks into the domestic market fast. I do not have an issue with that given the vast untapped market we have. But the challenge here is that eventually we get trapped and siloed in the local market and we are kicked out of our own market with international players who probably know how to meet the market demand better. In recent decades, we have seen some conglomerates that have broken out of this shackle and have started global expansion. This is a promising sign. But how far can we go without a passport that does not allow us to fly?

Here I wonder, why can’t we address this issue and what happens when we try to address this issue.

I am told by experts who have worked in relevant fields that Bangladesh intentionally refrains from laws against illegal migration to increase the potential for increasing remittance earnings. Can we really rule out that the state does not silently patronize illegal migration or even trafficking?

I previously explained how we are using the SME sector as a sink to show that we are giving means to unemployed and underemployed youth and women. It appears that we are also creating a sink with our remittance warriors. And in the process, we have created a vicious cycle which is now bringing down the power of our passport. We cannot improve its power, because the state probably does not want to.

What if we did change our policies to strengthen our passport?

I believe this can usher in a keystone change. To strengthen our passport, we will need to improve our diplomatic ties and strengthen our missions. We will have to address the issues of illegal migration and trafficking.

To achieve that, on one side we will have to create more opportunities for gainful jobs and on the other side we will have to strengthen measures to stop illegal migration.

To create gainful jobs, we will have to focus on industries, skills upgradation, and mechanization. To achieve that, there are several things we will have to do:

1. Undertake investment reforms and business sector reforms and unchain them from red tapes.
2. Undertake financial sector reforms to allow capital flow in favour of heavy industries.
3. Mechanize agriculture and invest in agri-business.
4. Improve our connectivity with regions through air and ocean.
5. Modernize our foreign missions and connect them with the ministries, focusing on trade and investment.
6. Shift from low-skilled to high-skilled migration.

Improving the passport index will make Bangladesh fly. But the question is, do we have the political will to go the extra mile?

Md Rubaiyath Sarwar is Managing Director, Innovision Consulting.