Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2016-07-26

Use of Public Funds for Foreign Travel in a Productive Manner

- Use of Public Funds with frugality and care, is the responsibility of all peoples' representatives and public officers. Accordingly, circular instructions have been issued, to all public institutions, for that purpose. However, it has been observed that sometimes, acting contrary to such instructions, the peoples' representatives of the Provincial Councils and Local Government Authorities in particular, and also public officers, engage in foreign travel as groups, utilizing government funds and the funds received through the foreign projects. As such, taking into consideration the necessity of using government funds, especially the foreign grants and loans, effectively; the proposal made by H.E. the President Maithripala Sirisena, to formulate a suitable methodology pertaining to foreign travel by peoples' representatives and public officers, was approved by the Cabinet.