Govt outlines austerity policy for foreign visits
The federal government’s austerity policy, which outlines procedures for official travels abroad, was launched on Monday by the Cabinet Division.
The officials were strictly instructed not to stay in five-star hotels and were instead urged to use teleconferencing over in-person international visits whenever feasible.
As per the policy, permission for official visits by federal ministers, advisers, and other officials needs to be obtained from the PM’s office.
Ministers and secretaries are prohibited from traveling abroad at the same time under the policy, unless there are exceptional reasons.
The guideline also states that officials of grade 20 or higher must get authorization from the appropriate office. The Ministry of External Affairs must receive all relevant travel information within 15 days.
The ministries of foreign affairs and trade are free from several constraints pertaining to attending international conferences, making them exceptions to these requirements.
The travel privileges were also discussed during the Monday cabinet meeting. First-class travel is permitted for the president and chief justice, while business class travel is allowed for the prime minister, senate chairman, speaker of the house of representatives, foreign minister, and federal ministers.
In an effort to reduce spending, the federal government established a monitoring committee in February to supervise the application of austerity measures, which are being carried out under PM Shehbaz Sharif.
The removal of the prime minister’s, ministers’, special assistants’, and advisers’ salaries and benefits, combined with a 15% reduction in all government department spending, is the centerpiece of the austerity measures.
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