PM Modi Undertook 7 Foreign Trips To 9 Countries In 4 Months: MEA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook seven foreign trips and visited nine countries from August till November this year, the External Affairs Ministry told Parliament on Wednesday.

Replying to a written question in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan gave out details of the foreign tours of the president, vice president, prime minister, external affairs minister and himself.

Modi undertook seven foreign trips from August till November and visited nine countries, according to the data presented by Muraleedharan.

The prime minister visited Bhutan, France, the UAE, Bahrain, Russia, the US, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Brazil in the said period, according to the data.

Also, an expenditure of over Rs 255 crore was incurred on chartered flights during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign engagements in the past three years, Rajya Sabha was told.

In a written reply, Muraleedharan said in 2016-17 Rs 76.27 crore was spent on chartered flights while in 2017-18 Rs 99.32 crore was spent.

In 2018-19, Rs 79.91 crore was spent while bill for 2019-20 has not been received, he said.

Replying to another written question, Muraleedharan said a US-based not-for-profit organisation -- Texas India Forum, Inc. -- organised an event titled "Howdy, Modi! Shared Dreams, Bright Futures" in Houston on September 22.

The prime minister, as part of his US visit (September 21-27), took part in the event at the invitation of the organisers and addressed a gathering of members of the Indian-American community and many of their elected representatives, the minister said.

"Government of India did not enter into any partnership with the Texas India Forum nor did it provide funding for this event," he added.

Meanwhile, President Ram Nath Kovind undertook three foreign trips and visited seven countries from August to November, while Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu undertook an equal number of foreign trips and visited six countries.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar undertook 13 trips to 16 countries and Muraleedharan undertook 10 trips to 16 countries in the said period, according to the data presented by the minister.

Fourteen dignitaries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, visited India from August to November, the data showed.