PanArmenian News
July 13 2005
BOTH ARMENIA AND TURKEY TO BENEFIT FROM OPENING OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH
BORDER
13.07.2005 07:29
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border will be
beneficial not only for Armenia but also for Turkey, Director of
Armenian European Policy Legal and Advice Center (AEPLAC) Tigran
Jrbashian stated when presenting the results of the investigation
entitled `Economic Consequences of the Opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border for Armenia’. According to the research, the
opening of the border will first of all allow reducing transport
expenses, increasing the commodity turnover and volume of export. It
will also contribute to the level of the Gross Domestic Product and
employment. At the same time the opening of the roads will allow to
use Turkey’s transit ways and have the outlet to the Mediterranean,
thus obtaining real possibilities of integration into the European
structures. Turkey in its turn will have the possibility to use the
Armenian transit ways and benefit from the reconstruction of the
Kars-Gyumri railway. The trade growth and development of eastern
regions of Turkey can also be expected. According to Jrbashian the
investigation was carried out on the basis of possible short-term
economic development (1 year) and medium-term development (5 years).
The short-tern variant provides for certain growth of trade volume
and reduction of transport expenses, as result, the volume of export
will exceed the GDP. The average-term variant can provide intensive
use of Turkish transit ways, considerable growth of the commodity
turnover, reduction of prices for Turkish goods and increase of
export to Turkey, EU states, America and Middle East. Long-term
development (over 5 years) will allow speaking of interrelation of
the Armenian and Turkish markets and strengthening of competition.