Prime Minister Vasile Tofan has criticized government officials for continuing to request lengthy foreign trips, despite his earlier call to limit official travel.
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Tofan said he had received requests for state secretaries to travel to India, Mongolia and Italy, with some trips lasting more than a week.
The prime minister urged ministers to exercise greater discretion when approving business trips for themselves, state secretaries, department heads and other public officials.
“Some of the requests for official visits still seem to me to be out of line with our priorities. I’ll give you a few examples: approval for a visit to India, to an area that also has beautiful beaches, for seven days. Plus one day there and one day back — nine days in total. At the level of a state secretary,” Tofan said.
He also questioned the need for a nine-day visit to Mongolia.
“Approval for a visit to Mongolia, again at the level of a state secretary, nine days in total. I don’t think it’s a good use of our time to be in Mongolia for nine days. The journey there takes a very long time,” the prime minister said.
Regarding a planned visit to Italy, Tofan said the trip itself was important, but questioned the need for two state secretaries to attend.
“I think it’s enough for one state secretary to go and share all the information and everything agreed there with the rest of the team,” he said.
Following the discussion, ministers were asked to scrutinize internal requests for official travel more carefully, particularly the duration and destination of trips.
At the first meeting of the new Cabinet, Tofan had already promised to take a stricter approach to approving official travel, arguing that ministers have enough work to do in Moldova and that discussions with the business community can be held via Zoom.