(MENAFN- The Peninsula) As a measure of austerity and bringing an improvement in the functioning of the government, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has imposed a ban on the superfluous foreign visits of federal ministers/ministers of state/advisers and special assistants forthwith.
Highly-placed sources in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said yesterday that bureaucrats were already under a strict embargo on this count.
He issued directives last year in this regard. Any such official who is required to proceed abroad will have to inform the PMO well before the time pertaining to his sojourn, including the purpose, expenditures, duration, size of delegation, and possible outcome of such a trip.
The officials will be able to travel abroad after formal and black and white permission of the PMO.
The PM's Office will have to be informed about the unavoidability of the visit and the circumstances in which the ambassadors/high commissioners posted in the host country wouldn't be able to represent Pakistan.
Once the permission is granted, the official will have to travel by the national flag carrier and immediate upon returning home, she/he will have to intimate the PMO about his or her return.
Interestingly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ever since he has assumed the exalted office, he has curtailed his foreign trips expenses drastically. He is the first prime minister in the recent history of the country that travels by a small plane and doesn't permit the number of his entourage exceed what is required.
His visit to the UN General Assembly last month where he raised the issue of Kashmir forcefully took the smallest delegation of Pakistan's history. He lived in a hotel that was listed by the UN officials from the security point of view.
Certain quarters made hue and cry over the hotel charges but prime minister cutting short his stay in New York for one night, left the hotel after two nights.
The sources reminded that the total expenditures of prime minister's stay in New York were less than the expenditures of the previous government's heads of state/government even of one night stay in that city. They used to stay there for several nights unnecessarily.
The hotel where the prime minister was staying, besides US President Barack Hussain Obama seven heads of the government/states of other countries including Niger, Sri Lanka and Iraq were also staying. Among them Nawaz Sharif's stay was the shortest, the sources reminded.
In the meanwhile, it has been officially stated that the prime minister has expressed his desire that ministers and ministers of state should concentrate on the work of their respective ministries and avoid unwarranted absences.
He has directed that only obligatory foreign visits be undertaken and non-obligatory meetings/conferences may be attended by our ambassadors to represent the respective ministries.
The prime minister is likely to issue guidelines for punctuality and better working ambiance in the government offices shortly. A comprehensive plan of action is being worked out by the officials concerned, the source added.
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