Arsen Ghazarian: No boom of Turkish investment expected in Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - In case of opening of the Armenian-Turkish border Armenia will restore its status as a transit country, the chairman of Armenia's Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Arsen Ghazaryan said.



"Armenia has always been a crossroad of the international trade," he said. In this regard, chairman of the Union added that Armenia can begin to provide transit services to its neighbors, particularly to Georgia, enabling the latter to reduce its budget expenditures twice. According to him, that economic harmonization between the two countries Iran, Georgia, as well as Central Asia, Syria, Turkey would benefit.



Opening of the border would enable to reduce transport costs for exported Armenian products by 20 -25% in some directions. However, according to Arsen Ghazaryan, neither investment boom, nor a huge influx of Turkish capital is expected in Armenia, "because the markets of Armenia and Turkey should get used to each other.""Certainly, the 5-10 per cent increase in import volumes will be observed, but I do not think this is a big threat to local producers," he said.



The trade turnover between the two countries in different years ranged between $ 50 and 100 million, and for 2008 it amounted to 85-86 million .