ISLAMABAD, June 24: From secretary to section officer, the officials of the commerce ministry consumed Rs13.14 million of the taxpayers’ money on the foreign trips the undertook during the last two years.

The officials of the ministry undertook trips to more than 50 cities around the world during the last two years. The commerce ministry officials consumed over Rs13.14 million as travelling and daily allowance to gain rich experience and improve the country’s trade balance.

The ministry officials may have done their best to improve the trade balance but the wizards in the finance ministry believe that the trade deficit of the country has reached an all time high of Rs5.5 billion.

Official record reveals that secretary commerce, Tasnim Noorani, made a foreign trip every month since he assumed the office in the ministry, except for January 2005.

The taxpayers paid Rs3.19 million as travelling and daily allowances of Mr Noorani during his trips to 20 cities — Dubai, Geneva, Mauritius, Rome, Brussels, London, New York, Washington, Milwaukee, Prague, Budapest, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Beijing, New Delhi, Washington, Brazil, Paraguay and Chile — during a 10-month period from June 21, 2004 till April 23, 2005.

The record of the commerce ministry shows that the former secretary commerce, Kamal Afsar, visited a dozen cities, including Almaty, Bucharest, Istanbul, Beijing, Seoul, Amsterdam, Casablanca, London, Vienna, Madrid, Paris and Brussels, during seven months from July 22, 2003 till January 17, 2004. The taxpayers paid Rs1.23 million as travelling and daily allowance of Mr Afsar for his foreign trips.

A number of senior officials of the ministry also visited abroad during the last two years for which the taxpayers paid Rs13.14 million as travelling and daily allowance of the officials.

The officials who visited abroad during the last two years included Additional Secretary Syed Asif Shah, Senior Joint secretaries MSI Ghauri and M.Yasin Tahir, former Joint Secretary Zafar Iqbal Qadir, Joint Secretary Qasim M. Niaz, Joint secretaries Shahid Bashir, Haider Raza, Ibrar Ahmed Khan, Imtiaz Kazi and Azam Muhammad; deputy secretaries Munawer Akhtar Islam, Dr Muhammad Saeed, M. Saleem Ahmed Ranjha and Waqar Ahmed Shan; Syed Irtiqa Ahmed Zaidi (EC); section officers Ms Khalida Bashir, Dr Kauser Ali Zaidi, Ms Humeira Zia Mufti, Humera Azam Khan, Adil Khan Miankhel, Bilal Khan Pasha, and Ghazi Marjan Khattak.

These officials visited Istanbul, Anatolia, New York, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Mumbai, London, Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, Nairobi, Tehran, Dhaka, Izmir, Dubai, Sana’a, Jeddah, Beijing, Baku, Brussels, Almaty, Bali, Moscow, Japan, Sao Paulo, Bangkok, New Delhi, Washington, Shangai, Geneva, Toronto, Montreal, Vancour, Kabul, Hanoi, Izmir, Mali, Casablanca, London, Amsterdam, Milwaukee, Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Rome, Mauritius, Madrid, Vienna, Seoul, Bucharest and Almaty.