Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu should be on duty until his successor is sworn in, said Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu at a meeting on Monday.

The prime minister said he would not make a rash decision to designate a new Foreign Minister and made it clear that the FM who recently resigned would ensure the management of the ministry till a new person was appointed.

"The man to be appointed to the position of Foreign Minister will have to meet a few criteria," said Tariceanu while pondering the most appropriate candidate to take on the position of chief diplomat.

The prime minister on Friday asked Foreign Minister Ungureanu to resign, on grounds of not informing the government about the detention of two Romanian workers in Iraq on Oct. 31, when they allegedly took pictures in a U.S. military base in the war-torn Middle Eastern country without permission.

Ungureanu announced his resignation on Monday, but expressed his "difference of opinion" on the matter between him and his boss.

Source: Xinhua