Time and again opposition has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of spending "public's money" for his foreign visits for "self promotion". Briefing on the same, Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday gave a detailed account of Prime Minister's expenditure on foreign visits. ALSO READ | Monsoon Session 2020: Govt Informs Over 1 Crore Migrants Walked Back To Home States During March-June; No Data On Workers Death In Road Accident

In a written reply to the queries raised in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan provided details of the prime minister’s visits abroad including their outcome, and stated that the Prime Minister visited 58 countries since 2015 at the expenditure of Rs 517 crore.

According to the details provided by Muraleedharan, PM Modi visited US, Russia and China five times each in past five years. he made multiple trips to some countries such as Singapore, Germany, France, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.

The Minister also gave an account of the agreements and treaties signed by PM Modi during his visit to the foreign countries.

As quoted by news agency PTI, the minister informed the Rajya Sabha that the visits to all these countries over the past five years have strengthened ties between India and the foreign nations across a wide range of sectors including trade and investment, technology, maritime, space and defence collaboration.

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"Modi’s visits to the countries have enhanced their understanding of India’s perspectives on bilateral, regional and global issues. These, in turn, have contributed to India’s national development agenda to promote economic growth and well being of our people," V Muraleedharan said.

Prior to the outbreak of novel Coronavirus, PM Modi's last foreign visit was to Brazil. The Prime Minister attended a summit of influential grouping BRICS on November 13-14 in 2019.