Moldovan PM calls for end to unnecessary “business trips”

Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan has criticised the length of government officials’ foreign trips and called for a reduction in business travel that does not serve the country’s interests.

The prime minister recalled that at the government’s first meeting, he asked cabinet members to exercise greater common sense when approving foreign trips, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

Travel requests are submitted to the prime minister for approval. Some of them, however, do not align with Moldova’s priorities and appear more like “business tourism,” Tofan noted.

The prime minister added that one state secretary had planned to spend nine days in India, another had requested approval for a trip to Mongolia, while two state secretaries wanted to travel to Italy.

Tofan urged cabinet members to be more critical both about the duration and destinations of such trips, noting that there was still a great deal of work to be done at home.

According to him, some foreign visits are necessary for negotiations, participation in business delegations and securing financial resources, while other trips cannot be justified on those grounds.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov