December 19, 2003 - 23:24 AMT
ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER FOR SOONEST OPENING OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS
I am for the soonest opening of the Armenian-Turkish border without any conditions, Armenian defense minister, secretary of the Security Council under the president Serge Sargsian told "Regnum" agency. Answering the question on the possibility of negative economic consequences of opening the border for Armenia, the minister noted that in respect of economic laws and specialists the state of affairs in Armenia is much better. "And if we add the relatively cheap electric power, being generated in Armenia, one will not have to speak about non-competitiveness. I am sure that we will only benefit from the competition," he said. In S. Sargsian's words, the worst problem in the economy of Armenia is the transport component: it is very high. Thus, Armenia has headed for producing goods with paltry transport component, the minister noted.