For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter Paula Gopee-Scoon says T&T has the ca­pac­i­ty to pur­chase prop­er­ty, part­ly be­cause of the glob­al eco­nom­ic down­turn. She said so dur­ing her ad­dress at the for­mal open­ing of the US$10 mil­lion Con­sulate Gen­er­al Of­fice in New York on Fri­day night. Prime Min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning for­mal­ly opened the new build­ing and ad­dressed T&T na­tion­als there. Gopee-Scoon, in her ad­dress, said it was a spe­cial thing to be able to pur­chase prop­er­ty at this time.

She added that this was even more re­mark­able be­cause the T&T Gov­ern­ment had the ca­pac­i­ty to pur­chase the prop­er­ty. Gopee-Scoon said be­cause of the eco­nom­ic down­turn, the price of prop­er­ty had been sig­nif­i­cant­ly re­duced. She said the new of­fice would as­sist T&T na­tion­als and non-na­tion­als alike. She said the pur­chase of prop­er­ty in New York, Wash­ing­ton and Toron­to were clear sig­nals of the Gov­ern­ment's com­mit­ment to serv­ing the peo­ple of the di­as­po­ra.

Gopee-Scoon was ex­pect­ed to re­turn home last night.