Efforts under way to reduce foreign mission costs

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Abdul Samad Abdullah has said that several measures are being taken to reduce costs at foreign missions.

Dr Samad told Sun Online that Councillor at the Maldivian High Commission in Malaysia Hassan Khalid and Deputy High Commissioner of Maldives to India Khadeeja Ibrahim have been dismissed due to budget difficulties.

“Foreign mission expenses are very high. In addition to the salaries, a large sum is spent on rent for officials. They are dismissed after serious deliberation,” he said.

He said that the Maldives has 13 missions abroad, some of which have just two employees.

“MVR 3.5 million per year is spent as apartment rent for officials in some countries. So in order to reduce costs some of them have been dismissed. Due to the lack of funds, we have pending repair and maintenance work as well,” he said.