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ISLAMABAD Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has consumed Rs176 million on his nine foreign visits, including Rs11 million on Hong Kong tour, a trip that according to official records was cancelled but even then the amount has been shown as expenditure.
In a written reply, the lower house of the parliament was informed on Wednesday that since taking over as the country's chief executive, Mr Gilani travelled to 10 countries.
The expenditure also include Rs4.6 million spent on the visit of first lady to Turkey from January 9 to 12, where she participated in a conference organised for the first ladies of the Muslim world.
The question on the spending was asked by Mohammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry and written details were placed before the house as unstirred reply, which is not meant for oral response by the respective minister.
The prime minister visited Cairo (Egypt) from May 17 to 22, 2008, which cost the national kitty Rs21.44 million. In June 2008, Mr Gilani went to Saudi Arabia for a couple of days, which cost the government around Rs11 million.
From July 7 to 9, 2008, the prime minister was in Malaysia and Dubai for which the government had to spent Rs9.2 million, followed by his visit to the US, UK and Sri Lanka from July 26 to August 3 that cost the national treasury Rs43.55 million.
In the following month of August, Prime Minister Gilani visited China for a couple of days and this trip cost Rs18 million. He again visited China from October 23 to 26, which cost the government Rs20 million.
From October 27 to November 1, the prime minister was in Turkey and Rs7 million was spent on the trip. Mr Gilani was scheduled to visit Hong Kong from November 30 to December 4, however, according to the written reply, the trip was cancelled, but it cost the government Rs10.91 million.
Prime Minister Gilani went to Switzerland (Devos) to attend World Economic Forum from January 28 to February 1 and the government foot a massive bill of Rs40.47 million on the whole trip.
These expenditures include money spent by the respective Pakistani missions, air tickets, gifts, payment of daily allowance to members of entourage and miscellaneous charges.
It is worth mentioning here that former president Pervez Musharraf and prime minister Shaukat Aziz came under heavy criticism for their frequent international travels, which cost the national kitty millions of rupees.
