The provincial government is spending $10,000 to send Education Minister Jody Carr to China. (CBC)

Education Minister Jody Carr will be in China on a trip designed to strengthen the province’s long-standing education arrangement with the country.

But the education minister’s $10,000 trip comes as he’s placed a moratorium on travel in his department.

Carr said he considered not going on the China trip, but he said he has refused many other chances to travel and he thinks this is money well spent:

“We need to continue to strengthen that partnership to show that the New Brunswick government is committed,” he said.

“And internationally, our partners are more keen on doing business with those government officials who send their ministers to show, from the highest levels, that this is a priority market.”

The relationship between Chinese schools and New Brunswick began 15 years ago.

Last year, Carr appointed Dennis Cochrane, a former president of St. Thomas University, as the president of Atlantic Education International.

Atlantic Education International is an arm's-length organization that offers international learning opportunities. It has a series of partnerships, including the China partnership, N.B. International Student Program, a teaching abroad initiative and overseeing the operations of the Confucius Institute.

In 2010, the institute made $3 million for the provincial government.

When Carr made the appointment, he said he wanted Cochrane to expand the international education project.

The institute has four schools in China with roughly 3,000 students.