Sri Lankan foreign ministry refutes claims over minister’s expenditure on overseas visits

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has raised concerns over recent misinformation being circulated pertaining to Foreign Minister Ali Sabry’s recent visits overseas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has raised concerns over recent misinformation being circulated pertaining to Foreign Minister Ali Sabry’s recent visits overseas.

Issuing a statement in this regard, the Ministry clarified that despite recent claims that the Minister spent a substantial amount of public funds during his visits overseas in the recent past, such official visits are being undertaken to represent Sri Lanka at important multilateral, regional and bilateral engagements overseas.

They further emphasised the need for the Minister to attend these engagements, considering their importance and also the expected level of participation, adding that it is the practice, and essential, for substantive reasons that senior officials of the Ministry and other line agencies accompany the Foreign Minster to said engagements as appropriate, considering the requirement of the expertise of such officials in such matters.