VAN TO BECOME BUSINESS CENTER: HURRIYET

news.am
Nov 4 2009
Armenia

Van, the 7,000-year-old cradle of civilization in eastern Anatolia,
will become a major industrial and commerce center if plans for a free
trade zone on the border between Iran and Turkey come to fruition,"
the Hurriyet daily reads.

The newspaper recalls ancient Armenian city in this frames as a result
of recent Iranian-Turkish initiative on joint project to build an
international free industry and commerce zone.

"Using Iran’s cheap energy and Turkey’s know-how and technology, the
idea is to produce goods in eastern Turkey on the Iranian border and
transfer them to Central Asia and Iraq via a railway along the route
of the historical Silk Road, which extends all the way to Pakistan,"
the source says.

The Hurriyet quotes Van Governor Munir Karaloglu: "Turkey has free
trade zones and industrial zones, but no international free industry
and commerce zone yet. Industrialists from both countries will use a
common area and energy from a foreign country. The customs taxes will
be abolished, although there is no legal groundwork laid out yet. The
biggest handicap for our manufacturers is the cost of energy. If
we succeed in serving our producers with cheap Iranian energy,
a significant economic boom will occur in the region."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress