Here’s who paid $450,000 for PM Imran’s two-day Switzerland trip

Terming his participation in the recently concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) as the “cheapest” official visit, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has said that his trip was sponsored by two of his friends and renowned businessmen Ikram Sehgal and Imran Chaudhry.

A former army officer, Sehgal is the chairperson of Pathfinder Group Pakistan that includes two of the country’s largest private security companies. Chaudhry, on the other hand, is a decades-old close friend of the premier. He is a Dubai-based businessman and philanthropist, having investments in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

According to reports, the two friends of PM Imran bore the expenses for his trip to Davos, and the same was also confirmed by the premier himself. Addressing the ‘Breakfast at Davos’, an event jointly organised by Pathfinder Group and Martin Dow Group last week, Imran said his trip cost 10 times less than those of the previous leaders.

He recalled that his trip to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last November, which cost $160,000, was cheaper than the visits of former president Asif Ali Zardari ($1.4 million), and former PMs Nawaz Sharif ($1.3 million) and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi ($800,000).

Thanking Sehgal, Imran added, “He is instrumental in getting me here. Otherwise, I would not have burdened my government to pay a sum of $450,000 for two nights.”

Reiterating that this was an “austerity programme”, he maintained the government should rely on the over nine million Pakistanis residing overseas. “The GDP of those nine million overseas Pakistanis, in my opinion, is almost 50 per cent of Pakistan’s (overall) GDP of 200 million people. So we can use this resource and they can sponsor these things,” he said.

To be able to attend the WEF annual meeting, a person has to be invited — in which case the event is free — or has to be a member of the forum. Membership of the WEF costs about $60,000 to $600,000 plus an additional fee needed to acquire an attendance badge, which runs about $27,000 per person to get into the conference.