BUSINESS LEADER LOOKS FORWARD TO OPEN BORDER WITH TURKEY
Lilit Harutiunian

Armenialiberty.org
Sept 11 2009

Armenia — Arsen Ghazarian, co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian
Business Council.

The possible opening of the Turkish border would significantly
benefit the Armenian economy and have little adverse impact on local
manufacturers, the chairman of Armenia’s largest business association
insisted on Friday.

Arsen Ghazarian, who heads the Union of Industrialists and
Entrepreneurs, predicted that cross-border commerce would quickly
spur economic activity and create many jobs in Armenian regions
bordering Turkey.

"We would also be able to implement serious joint projects in the
energy sphere," he said. "Our two cement plans, which I’m sure are not
operating at their full capacity, would be able to meet the Turkish
industry’s demand and to make decent profits.

"We would have quite serious projects in the textile sector. I am
talking about quite serious turnovers."

Ghazarian has for years voiced such views in his separate capacity
as the Armenian co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Council
(TABC), a private group uniting businessmen from the two neighboring
countries. The reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border, a key aim of
the TABC, became a real possibility after Ankara and Yerevan unveiled
draft agreements on the normalization of bilateral relations.

The prospect of an open border with Turkey has long caused unease
among some Armenian politicians, businessmen and economists. They
fear that an influx of cheap Turkish imports could wreak havoc on the
country’s fledgling manufacturing and farming sectors. Some have gone
as far as to declare that the Turkish economic blockade has been a
blessing in disguise for Armenia.

Ghazarian brushed aside these concerns at a news conference in
Yerevan. "Let’s face it, in our society there is not much enthusiasm
for Turkish consumer goods to begin with," he said.

"Besides, many of our enterprises in the food-processing and plastic
items sectors bring in a considerable part of their raw materials from
Turkey because it’s close and cheap. In that case [of border opening,]
it will be even closer and cheaper," he added.

Ghazarian further argued that an open border with Turkey will
become all the more important in the event of the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and restoration of commercial links between
Armenia and Azerbaijan. That, he said, would turn Armenia into a
regional transit country linking Turkey to Azerbaijan and Central Asia.