ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s seven official foreign visits in less than three months last year cost the national exchequer Rs168.1 million, official data reveals.
According to the record shared with the National Assembly by the Foreign Ministry, these visits had been undertaken between Sept 16 and Nov 30 last year.
The prime minister visited Turkey from Sept 16 to 18 and Rs4.6m was spent. He travelled to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly session from Sept 22 to 29 and Rs80.7m was spent, the most expensive of all visits undertaken by him so far during his current stint as the chief executive.
He was expecting to meet US President Barrack Obama on the sidelines of the UNGA, but it did not happen. He just could get a chance to shake hands with the US president at a dinner Mr Obama had hosted for the visiting world leaders.
Mr Sharif travelled to the US again from Oct 19 to 24 for a bilateral meeting with the US president. An amount of Rs35m was spent on the visit. Days after the visit, he went to the United Kingdom from Oct 29 to 31 to attend the ninth world Islamic Economic Forum. The cost of the visit was Rs25.1m.
The prime minister’s visit to Sri Lanka to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting from Nov 14 to 17 cost Rs11.8m.
His three-day visit to Thailand for the Connect Asia Pacific Summit and bilateral meetings cost Rs9.7m.
The cost of his daylong visit to Afghanistan on Nov 30 was Rs1.2m.
In all, the prime minister has undertaken nine visits from July last year to Feb 15 this year.
An amount of Rs26.2m was incurred on his visit to China from July 3 to 8.
Most recently, he travelled to Turkey for a trilateral summit of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey from Feb 12 to 15. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is yet to receive details of the expenses.
In all, an amount of Rs194.3m was spent on his eight visits abroad, excluding the visit to Turkey.
