Education Minister Pun Asks: ‘Will the Economy Improve Just by Travelling Abroad?

In Kathmandu, Education Minister Mahabir Pun has taken aim at recent controversy surrounding a minister’s foreign trip. Noting that he has repeatedly declined invitations to travel abroad, Pun said he will again not be going on overseas trips despite receiving two offers, emphasizing that such travel does not build the nation.

In a post on Facebook, he wrote that even after becoming a minister he refused three invitations for foreign travel, and that he will not go this time either.

Pun further argued that unless the country’s economy is strengthened, no prime minister or finance minister can achieve progress, saying that money is needed to build the nation and questioning whether traveling abroad will improve the economy.

He stressed that economic reform must come first and implied that foreign trips cannot substitute for substantive progress at home.