Unlocking Armenian-Turkish border to raise investment attractiveness in Armenia immediately

YEREVAN, October 21. / ARKA /. Unlocking the Armenian-Turkish border will just increase the investment attractiveness of Armenia, and in fact not only for Turkish investors, the head of OSCE Yerevan office Sergey Kapinos said in an interview with ARKA News Agency.

"The opening of the border is a fairly lengthy process of harmonization of procedures, monitoring mechanisms, involving different services, such as security, customs, taxation and others, and this time should be used to maximum benefit," the ambassador said.

Head of OSCE Yerevan Office believes that Armenia has no reason to worry about competition from Turkey.

"Armenia has open customs borders with more developed economic states. In addition, within the World Trade Organization and outside of it there is always the possibility of preventing and countering the actions that go beyond the concept of "healthy competition”," Kapinos said.

He believes that the vigorous implementation of the Turkish capital in the Armenian economy can only play a positive role with a reasonable approach. 

However, according to the ambassador, "it will have to compete not only with Armenian companies, but the business structures of developed countries."

Head of OSCE Office in Yerevan is sure that opening of the border will have a positive impact on the economic situation in Armenia and will open up new markets for export of electricity, building materials, foil and other products, and contribute to clearing the field of competition in the country.

Armenia and Turkey signed protocols on the normalization of bilateral relations on October 10 in Zurich. 

The complex relationship between the two countries is caused by, inter alia, Ankara's position of support for Azerbaijan in the Karabakh issue, as well as an acute reaction to Turkey's process of international recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.–0-