KUALA LUMPUR: The 39 official and working trips to 22 countries undertaken by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim between November 2022 and October this year have cost RM13.7mil.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa said these visits included countries such as Saudi Arabia, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam and the United Arab Emirates among others.
Aside from these countries, she added that Anwar has also visited the Philippines, Indonesia, China, and Uzbekistan.
"The expenditure for the Prime Minister's official visits overseas aligns with the financial procedures in place, and a prudent spending approach was taken," she said.
She added that the amount spent is reasonable, considering the benefits generated in terms of investment commitments from these trips.
She was responding to a question from Datuk Awang Hashim (Perikatan-Pendang) about the list of the premier’s overseas trips, the number of accompanying officers, and the total expenditure incurred.
Meanwhile, in response to another question by Datuk Azman Nasrudin (Perikatan-Padang Serai) on the flight costs, Dr Zaliha said these were in line with the regulations related to the use of government air transport.
"The expenses of government officers who went on the Prime Minister's official visits abroad are the responsibility of their respective ministries," she said in a Parliamentary written reply dated Oct 29.
Similarly, the expenditure of security officials falls under the purview of the police and army.
She added that Anwar also participated in international conferences, which helped strengthen diplomatic ties and opened opportunities for new initiatives.
Dr Zaliha said international conferences and official visits are good platforms to promote Malaysia on the international stage and inform the business community of the country’s economic conditions.
Through these visits, Malaysia was able to secure investment commitments worth RM82.6bil between January and October this year and RM353.6bil for the whole of last year.
The investment commitments secured were in areas such as the digital economy (data centres), electrical and electronics (semiconductors), and chemicals (petrochemicals and chemical products).
