Government bars officials from taking spouses, children on state-funded foreign trips

The interim government has imposed a restriction on officials from taking their spouses or children on state-sponsored foreign tours.

A notification signed by Principal Secretary M Siraz Uddin Miah was issued from the Chief Advisor’s Office (CAO) on Mar 23 and made public on Wednesday.

The directive, sent to senior secretaries and secretaries of all ministries and divisions including the Cabinet Division, lays out fresh travel guidelines for government officials.

It says officials must strictly avoid travelling abroad at the expense of contractors or supplier organisations.

The statement specifies that, except for urgent reasons, advisors, senior secretaries/secretaries, private secretaries/assistant private secretaries should avoid travelling abroad as companions.

It clearly says spouses or children cannot accompany officials on government-sponsored overseas trips.

The directive reminds ministries to adhere to earlier instructions issued by the CAO.

An earlier notification dated Dec 9, 2024, had already discouraged foreign trips by government officials and outlined a set of restrictions.

Those guidelines included:

>> Routine foreign travel will be generally discouraged.

>> Ministries must submit a tentative list of all planned foreign trips for the year.

>> A ministry-wise database of foreign travel must be created, with the CAO developing the structure and maintaining the information.

>>Government officials at all levels will avoid undertaking foreign trips consecutively.

>> Advisors and secretaries from the same ministry should generally avoid travelling abroad together. In cases where joint travel is unavoidable for national interest, the necessity must be explicitly mentioned.

>>The secretary of a ministry and the heads of subordinate departments or agencies will not travel abroad together unless it is for “absolutely essential national interest”.

>> Proposals for attending seminars or workshops abroad must specify which official has been invited by the organiser and include details of the level of participants from other countries.

>> Travel proposals must clearly state the necessity of the visit and the relevance or involvement of the proposed official in the event.

>> For purposes like procurement, pre-shipment inspection or factory acceptance tests, only relevant technical experts should be considered for travel.

>> Travel deemed less essential must be avoided when funded by public money.

>> Recreational foreign travel must be avoided by officials at all levels.

>> Long-term study leave abroad should be avoided.

>> Proposals for foreign travel must include full details of the official’s travel history over the previous year.

The government had previously limited foreign travel due to the ongoing dollar crisis.