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Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has lament­ed the wors­en­ing brain drain in Trinidad and To­ba­go, dri­ven by crime and oth­er fac­tors, as she pledged to strength­en en­gage­ment with na­tion­als liv­ing abroad.

Speak­ing at a Re­pub­lic Day cel­e­bra­tion host­ed by the Per­ma­nent Mis­sion to the Unit­ed Na­tions and the Con­sulate Gen­er­al of Trinidad and To­ba­go at the Bor­ough of Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege on Sat­ur­day, Per­sad-Bisses­sar es­ti­mat­ed that up to 700,000 Trinidad and To­ba­go na­tion­als re­side in New York alone.

“Aside from the im­me­di­ate so­cial im­pact of crim­i­nal­i­ty on our pop­u­la­tion, the eco­nom­ic im­pact and loss of our na­tion­als who have mi­grat­ed abroad be­cause of fear, is equal­ly un­de­sir­able, as we have lost some of our bright­est sons and daugh­ters who have cho­sen to live abroad,” she said.