The Maldivian passport has been declared the most powerful passport in South Asia.

Maldives is placed on the 62nd spot in the Henley Passport Index, the original ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.

As such, the Maldivian passport has access to free-on-arrival visas from 84 countries. Coming closest to Maldives in the South Asia region is India ranked at 86 with 58 free-on-arrival visa destinations.

Afghanistan comes last in the region at the 109th spot, having access to just 25 countries.

The highest ranked in the index are Japan and Singapore with access to 189 visa-free destinations.

Since the inauguration of the new government in November, it is observed to be doing a lot of work to strengthen the security on the Maldivian passport.

As such, during trips abroad, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid had signed visa exemption agreements with Russia and the United Arab Emirates and Thailand during earlier visits.

Other countries where the Maldivian passport has power in include India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia which have a fairly large Maldivian community. Some of these changes are the result of the hard work exerted within the past seven months.