Foreign Ministry has revealed that MVR 2.8 million was spent on travels for Minister Abdulla Shahid during the first year and that MVR 3.2 billion was secured as foreign aid.

Foreign Ministry made the statement in reply to a request, asking the details of financial expenditure of Minister Shahid's travels. The details in question are for trips between November 2018 and November 2019.

According to the Ministry, in the year 2018 between November and December the Minister embarked on two trips, for which MVR 194,590 was spent. In 2019, a total of 18 trips were made for which MVR 2,646,289 was spent.

These trips include official visits to meet his foreign counterparts, high level forums and conferences from organisations that the Maldives is a part of and trips in which he accompanied President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

The Ministry noted that the Maldives enjoy renewed friendships and a higher status in the international community due to these trips.

As a result of these newly strengthened ties, the Ministry highlighted that Maldives was able to secure MVR 3.2 billion as foreign aid in the year 2019.