OPENING OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER TO REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net - The investigation carried out by the Armenian European Policy Legal and Advice Center (AEPLAC) showed that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border will allow reducing unemployment and increasing the GDP, AEPLAC Director Tigran Jrbashian stated when presenting the results of the investigation entitled "Economic Consequences of the Opening of the Armenian-Turkish border for Armenia". The investigation was conducted according to two models - short-term (1 year) and medium-term (5 years). According to the short-term model with opening of the Armenian-Turkish border the GDP will make 10.65 million AMD (in case of the medium-term model the figure will reach 43.00 million AMD). At that the number of workplaces will increase 1.5 thousand and 4.8 respectively. The growth of import will make 4,71% and 12,95%. Export will increase with 5,23% and17,73%. Other positive outcomes of the border opening were as well marked. In part, it is the increase of the net income per head, indexing of consumer prices and growth of the manageable income. It was also noted that some Turkish regions are under-developed. The GDP there yields to the average index in the country and is 15 times lower than that in the EU states. The GDP her head in Armenia is three times greater than that in the adjacent Turkish regions. The research showed that import from Turkey made about 40 million AMD in 1995-2004 annually, however in 1998 it reached 60 million. At the same time export hardly made 10 million AMD. According to Jrbashian it is conditioned by the fact that Armenia allows unlimited import of goods in the republic while Turkey imposes limitations on the import on Armenian goods.