Singapore (VNA)✨ – Singaporeans still hold the world’s most powerful passport, with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 193 destinations out of 227 globally, according to the latest Henley Passport Index released on July 22.
The country retained its first-place ranking despite a slight dip from 195 destinations in the January edition of the index.
Singapore lost visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to Pakistan and Mauritania in West Africa after both switched from visa-on-arrival to e-visa systems.
E-visas, unlike visa-on-arrival arrangements, require travelers to obtain approval before departure and are not counted as visa-free access in the index.
This reduced Singapore’s tally by two points, but it retained its lead, as other top-ranked passports were similarly affected.
Japan and the Republic of Korea are in the second position in the ranking, with access to 190 destinations. Seven European Union countries – Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain – share third place with access to 189 destinations.
Meanwhile, the UK and the US slipped down the index. Once the world’s most powerful passports – the UK in 2015, and the US in 2014, they now rank sixth and 10th, respectively.
The UK offers visa-free access to 186 destinations, while the US 182. According to the Henley & Partners, the US is on the verge of falling out of the top 10 for the first time in the index’s 20-year history.
At the bottom is Afghanistan, at 99th position, with its citizens able to access just 25 destinations without a prior visa. Syria is in 98th place with 27 destinations, followed by Iraq at 97th with 30.
Henley & Partners, a global citizenship and residence advisory firm, compiles the ranking using exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association.
It is published twice a year – in January and July – and tracks the number of destinations passport holders can enter without needing a prior visa./.
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Vietnam’s pavilion notably displayed traditional crafts from the centuries-old lacquerware village of Ha Thai and Chu Dau ceramics. The atmosphere was further enriched by delegations wearing their countries’ traditional costumes, including the elegant ao dai and the graceful ao tu than of Vietnamese women.
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Deputy Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly Istvan Jakab expressed his hope for further deepening Hungary’s ties with ASEAN countries and called for their support for Hungary’s accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.
