The government’s decision last month to buy the building that houses its representative office in Italy is expected to save money in the long run, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.
Department of General Affairs head Bruce Hung (洪振榮) told a news briefing that the ministry had leased the building at No. 17 Viale Liegi in Rome for years.
However, the ministry in June learned that the owner of the building was having financial difficulties and a court in Rome ordered the property’s foreclosure, Hung said.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
The ministry decided that it was the right time to stop leasing the building and buy it instead, he said.
The deal was officially sealed last month, he added.
“It is extremely rare to be able to buy a property in Europe at a reasonable price, so we immediately made the decision,” he said.
Hung was asked to comment on the decision to buy the building for NT$408 million (US$12.63 million), which was part of a fiscal 2024 budget proposal sent to lawmakers for review.
In the budget proposal, the ministry said that the purchase would be made in two installments in the fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025 budgets.
The ministry has not said how much it was paying in rent for the building.
The ministry also opened a representative office in Milan, Italy, last week.
Hung, whose department is responsible for buying or leasing the ministry’s overseas representative offices, said that it has plans to buy one other overseas property, a permanent location for its representative office in Sydney.
The ministry is also planning to open an office in Montreal before the end of the year and an office in Mumbai, India, early next year, but both would be leased, he said.
The ministry has 110 overseas offices, of which fewer than 20 are owned by the government.
The ministry has been trying to buy office space overseas to save on rent since 2002.
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