New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited 58 countries since 2015 at a total cost of Rs. 517 crores, the government said Tuesday in a written response to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha. Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said the Prime Minister had visited the United States and Russia the most – five visits each. PM Modi has also visited China with whom India is engaged in a prolonged and serious border stand-off in eastern Ladakh. Among other countries visited by the Prime Minister are Singapore, Germany, France, the United Arab Emirates, and Sri Lanka.
The Prime Minister’s last trip abroad was to Brazil (in November last year) to attend a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) summit. He also visited Thailand earlier that month. PM Modi has made no visits in 2020 because of the global lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic. The visits helped strengthen economic relations across a wide range of sectors, including trade and investment, technology, defense collaboration, and people-to-people contact, the minister said. According to the data, a total of Rs.1,583.18 crores were spent on the maintenance of the Prime Minister’s aircraft and Rs. 429.25 crores on chartered flights during the period between June 15, 2014, and December 3, 2018. The total expenditure on the hotline was Rs. 9.11 crore.
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