January 12, 2007 - 18:53 AMT
Closing of Armenian-Turkish Border Not Political Move
Turkey and Azerbaijan are unlikely to purpose political objectives by closing the border with Armenia, Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Economics, former Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of State Gary C. Hufbauer said in Yerevan. In his words, such sanctions never lead to achievement of political or social goals. "Limitation of commodity turnover and investments may result in considerable reduction of economic growth of both states," he said.

For his part expert Brian Roberts noted that opening of the Armenian-Turkish border may bring to lowering of tariffs for cargo transportation and have a positive impact on trade relations between Armenia and Turkey as well as third states.