Staff Reporter :
The government has issued four conditions relaxing the ban on officials’ foreign trips and allowed them to travel abroad for Masters’ and PhD courses and training.
The Budget Department of the Finance Ministry issued a circular in this regard on Monday. The decision was taken to ensure the skill upgradation for the government officials.
The government, in July last year, withheld 50 per cent of this fiscal’s allocation for foreign trips and asked officials to cancel the routine tours, as part of safety measures during the pandemic.
From March 2020 to July 2021, Tk 2,500 crore allocated for the foreign tours of government officials was saved.
Earlier, the ban on their foreign trips was imposed in the context of post-Covid economic recovery and ongoing global crisis.
The four conditions are stated in the circular are-
1. Foreign trips are allowed for study in Master’s and PhD courses with foreign or government funding or under scholarships/fellowships provided by various development aid agencies/universities /countries.
2. Foreign trips will be allowed to participate in specialized/vocational training organized under the management and development budget based on Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between various foreign training institutes/universities with the government.
3. Foreign trips will be allowed to participate in overseas training organized at the invitation and fully funded by the foreign government/institution/development partner.
4. Officials with technical knowledge are allowed foreign trips for the purpose of quality audit inspection of services/products funded by suppliers/contractors/consultants.
However, in the context of the current global economic situation, participation in exposure, workshops, seminars under the scope of APA and Innovation will remain suspended.
The May 12 circular stated that all exposure visits, study tours, workshops and seminars abroad will remain suspended until further notice.
The government imposed the embargo on foreign tours when it saw that too many officials of different ministries and departments were keen on going abroad. Economists and watchdogs say that
many of these overseas tours are fruitless, unnecessary and waste of public money.
Government officials and, in some cases, cabinet members of different ministries and projects make foreign trips on taxpayers’ money every year to take part in training, meetings, and seminars.
Even though the government has asked to abandon all routine tours, except those involving emergencies, at least 100 agriculture ministry officials will participate, in phases, in a six-month international horticulture exhibition in the Netherlands.
The exhibition, which kicked off on April 13, will continue until October 9 in the Dutch city of Almere.
A 44-member delegation, including the daughter and son-in-law of Begum Monnujan Sufian, State Minister for labour and employment, and the spouse of BEPZA executive chairman is set to visit Switzerland for the 110th session of the International Labour Conference, which will take place between May 27 and June 11.
A government order, however, said that all expenses of the delegates, other than government officials and ministers, will be borne by themselves.
