Did Foreign Minister Individually Spend Over 50 Million On Recent Foreign Visits? Find out the facts...
Holding one of the viral ministries, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry has been actively involved in a number of multilateral and bilateral discussions with several world leaders and foreign diplomats over the past few months. However, a recent viral Tweet had questioned the amount of money the minister had spent during his recent foreign […]
Holding one of the viral ministries, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry has been actively involved in a number of multilateral and bilateral discussions with several world leaders and foreign diplomats over the past few months. However, a recent viral Tweet had questioned the amount of money the minister had spent during his recent foreign visits. Let’s look at the claim in detail.
Social Media Posts
We noticed a viral Tweet implying Minister Ali Sabry alone had spent over five crore rupees (over LKR 50 million) on his recent foreign tours. The Tweet went on to state that this money was spent only on seven foreign tours and that this information was revealed through an application submitted by one of the journalists, Rifthi Ali, as seen below.
The Tweet had mixed reactions, and many inquired about further details.
So we decided to look into further details regarding this claim.
Response from Minister Ali Sabry
Terming the above Tweet as misleading, Minister Ali Sabry emphasised the cost items relating to the foreign visits in question. Via a Tweet, he explains that the figure of 50 million was not his sole expense for recent foreign visits but rather that of that 22 government officials. The tweet also mentions that the total cost incurred accounts for five national delegations and another two bilateral visits. The minister adds that he had only led this delegation, and apart from him, the 22 other officials were part of these missions from time to time.
Minister's Tweet response can be read below.
We also contacted Minister Ali Sabry, who said the accusations were baseless. He added that the conferences and bilateral discussions were essential for the country in a number of aspects, and he had taken part in these deliberations representing Sri Lanka as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Minister Sabry admitted that he had led the following five international conferences, two bilateral with other government officials.
- United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)
- United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) - 2 times
- Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)
- ASEAN Regional Forum
- And the two bilateral visits were to the US & Saudi Arabia.
The minister noted that building international trust and friendships through such conferences and visits is already having positive impacts and have paved the way for successful IMF negotiations and other benefits.
Explaining further, Minister Sabry said that the US visit was initiated after the US foreign secretary invited a Sri Lankan Foreign Minster to visit the US after a few years, and the Saudi Arabia visit was to strengthen the bilateral relationships between the two countries.
He further clarified that Sri Lanka receives 270 million USD in donations from the US and 84 million USD from Japan due to the fruitfulness of those visits, and Saudi Arabian investors were ready to invest in Sri Lanka.
“For these visits, I can’t go alone. I should go with various state officials and experts who can negotiate with foreign governments on multiple subjects. So,22 such officers joined me in total for the said seven visits. It's not a waste of money. We were able to give more benefits to the country rather than cost “, he added.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Meanwhile, in a detailed clarification, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs elaborated on how Sri Lanka as a country had benefited from the recent foreign visits by the Minister-led delegations. On the political front, it was highlighted that the visits were essential to face off challenges from remnants of the LTTE lobby overseas as well as to restore peace, stability and democracy in the country. In economic & trade from successful IMF negotiations and ties with ASEAN countries, India, China & Middle East were highlighted along with other benefits.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs mentions that the advantages arising from recent foreign visits far outweigh the costs, and the benefits are not only immediate but also could be seen in the future. The detailed clarification can be read below.
Foreign-Ministers-travel-detailedAlso, in a media briefing issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is stated that “The Foreign Ministry curtails expenses to the maximum extent possible and only essential expenses are authorized in keeping with the new Treasury circulars and guidelines.”
Furthermore, the “Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to emphasize that the Foreign Minister, by virtue
of his appointment/high office is required to undertake foreign travel for official purposes in the
context of the Foreign Ministry’s and the government’s engagement with its international partners,
and to represent Sri Lanka in fulfilling the country’s domestic and international obligations.”
The full statement can be read here.
The initial Article Published by Rifthi Ali mentions details of delegates along with Minister Sabry.
And we also looked at the initial information source mentioned in the viral tweets, journalist Rifthi Ali, Founder / Chief Editor of Vidiyal.lk. Based on an RTI response by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rifthi published the initial Tamil Article on 18th June. Quoting the RTI reply, the article mentions the costs incurred by Foreign Minister-led delegations on 7 foreign visits from August 2022 up to January 2023. However, the viral Tweet failed to mention details of delegations on the said visits, which caused the confusion.
We contacted Rifthi Ali, and he forwarded us the RTI reply sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As per the foreign travel breakdown sent by the Ministry, there have been visits to Cambodia (03 delegates), Geneva (02 visits with 10 delegates), New York (03 delegates), Bangladesh (05 delegates), the USA (04 delegates) & Saudi Arabia (03 delegates) during the period from August 2022 till the end of January 2023. Also, we noticed that the total cost of these 7 visits amounted to LKR 51.9 million. The full breakdown given in the RTI response to Rifthi can be seen below.
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Title: Explained: Did Foreign Minister Spend Over 50 Million Individually On Official Foreign Visits?
By: Kalana KrishanthaResult: Explainer
