Armenia economically not prepared for border opening

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia is not economically prepared for opening border with Turkey, ex-Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan finds. The only research according to him, was carried out 4 year ago by AIEPLAC's recommendation. «The research predicts 20 million Dollars' increase in Armenia's trade potential in case of opening border. But that sounds ridiculous because Turkish experts anticipate 400 million Dollars' increase in 2 years' time. Besides, such research is funded by Turkish government,» he said.



Besides, Bagratyan believes, Turkey has highly developed small and medium enterprise (something Armenia lacks) which always helped it resist external shocks. «That is seen in GDP index which went down by 18.4% in Armenia and 7% in Turkey,» he noted. In that connection, ex-Premier added that Turkish side was not interested in Armenia's economic development and would cooperate with local oligarchs, realizing that they would not actually allow SME to develop. «Country's development was always a domestic problem for us (big oligarchs),» he said. In the meantime, Armenian manufacturers manage to concentrate on agricultural production, vine and apricot growing.



Nevertheless, «No forces in Armenia would be against opening of Armenian-Turkish border,» Bagratyan says.