A Pacific governance specialist says Tuvalu government ministers are generally justified in spending significant time abroad to attend important gatherings and meet with major partners.
The comment from Graham Hassall from Victoria University's School of Government comes as Tuvalu's Prime Minister Willy Telavi has been facing public criticism in his country for his government's frequent overseas travel.
Professor Hassall says that if they elect not to attend the overseas meetings, Pacific island leaders tend to get criticised for being isolated, so Mr Telavi cannot avoid travel.
"There's no way around that apart from clear, transparent accounts of who is attending a meeting, on what basis, how large the delegation is, whether everybody needs to be there and if those reasons are well understood and the benefits to a small country such as Tuvalu are understood, then they should be able to proceed."
Graham Hassall from Victoria University.
