Mir Afroz Zaman

U.S. Embassy Dhaka’s United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and The Asia Foundation jointly organized a Prosperity and Good Governance Conference to share findings from the Atlantic Council’s new global Freedom and Prosperity Report on Tuesday.

The U.S.-based think tank’s data is clear: strengthening basic freedoms accelerates economic growth over the long term.

In Bangladesh, the data shows that the report’s Freedom Index, which includes political, economic, and legal components, has been declining for 22 consecutive years. Today, Bangladesh ranks 141 out of 164 on the Freedom Index.

“Every country grapples with issues like corruption and securing economic and political rights. The key lies not in avoiding problems, but in actively acknowledging and tackling them,” said Ambassador Peter Haas speaking at the event.

The Prosperity and Good Governance Conference brought together representatives from government, civil society, business, donors, academia, and think tanks.

Mr. Joseph Lemoine, Director of the Atlantic Council’s Freedom and Prosperity Center, was the keynote speaker. Mr. Lemoine highlighted key findings from the report, which measures and ranks countries’ democratic and governance indicators in its Freedom Index, as well as its Prosperity Index that measures a nations’ economic well-being.

The Freedom and Prosperity Indexes are two separate indexes that rank 164 countries around the world according to their levels of freedom and prosperity.

Bangladesh’s ranking of 141 on the Freedom Index places it within the "mostly unfree" category. Its ranking of 99 out of 164 on the Prosperity Index, categorizes it as "mostly unprosperous."

“The data shows that countries with greater freedom tend to enjoy higher levels of prosperity, while those with less freedom tend to have lower levels of prosperity. Countries that promote political and economic freedoms, along with strong legal systems, create an environment that's more welcoming to foreign investors”, said Mr. Lemoine during his keynote presentation. Freer countries receive significantly more foreign direct investment than those with less freedom.

Overall, the Freedom Index suggests that a strong commitment to freedom is key to attracting foreign investment.