Vasile Tofan
According to the head of government, travel requests are in any case submitted to him for final approval; however, greater discretion is needed already at the review stage within the ministries.
“We continue to receive a number of requests that, in my view, do not necessarily align with our priorities,” Tofan said.
As an example, the prime minister cited a seven-day trip to India and a nine-day trip to Mongolia.
“I won’t name names. The approval of a visit to India—to a region with beautiful beaches—for seven days, plus one day to get there and one day to return—totals nine days. Another example: coordinating a visit to Mongolia, again at the level of a state secretary—a total of nine days. I don’t think it’s a good use of our time to spend nine days in Mongolia, plus the trip there, which takes a very long time. Arranging a visit to Italy—I believe this trip concerns an important issue, but it was proposed that two state secretaries go there. “I think it’s sufficient for one state secretary to go and convey all the information and agreements reached there to the rest of the team,” the prime minister said.
The prime minister emphasized that there are many such examples and called on ministers to evaluate both the duration of trips and their destinations more carefully.
“Let’s be a little more critical about both the duration of the trip and the destination, because we have a lot of work to do at home,” Vasile Tofan emphasized.
As a reminder, President Maia Sandu previously stated that many government employees will not take vacation in August, September, or even October, as they are engaged in fulfilling the commitments undertaken by the Republic of Moldova as part of the process of joining the European Union.
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