Four officials are travelling with the Minister for Defence and Veteran Affairs on his tour to meet soldiers in the Middle East.
Responding to public interest and criticism surrounding the trip, Pio Tikoduadua said transparency was important.
“When the public asks for clarity on matters of state responsibility – especially where public funds are involved – it’s important we provide honest, direct answers,” he said.
“I’m happy to do that here.”
The minister explained that the delegation was significantly smaller than what was previously common under past governments.
“It is also important to note that in the past, the practice was to have the Prime Minister, the President and the Minister of Defence travel on different occasions to the same areas – these travels would also include a large number of officials, secretaries and bodyguards.
“Under the Coalition Government, it is only the Minister for Defence who will be travelling to the Middle East from Fiji with two officials from the ministry and the Commander Joint Task Force (Brigadier-General Manoa Gadai) and his military assistant.
“I’m ‘travelling alone’, i.e. I am the only minister going to the Middle East. Some people are saying that I’m going by myself.”
Mr Tikoduadua also defended the itinerary, saying each destination was necessary because of the locations of Fijian peacekeeping deployments.
“This trip spans multiple countries because our troops are spread across multiple missions including UNDOF in the Golan Heights, UNTSO in Jerusalem and Tiberias, and the MFO in Sinai. I will not pick and choose which deployments are ‘worth the airfare’ – as they all are.”
