The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border will have a positive impact on Armenia because in this case the transportation costs to Europe and Middle East will be cut by at least 30%. Yesterday during the interview to the A1+ such an opinion was expressed by the former deputy-minister of finances of Armenia Levon Barkhudaryan. “This will essentially improve the situation and will thus annihilate the monopoly of the Georgian corridor. This currently exists in various sectors of economy. The only question is how the border will be opened and at the expense of what. Will there be artificial complications created at the customs or not? Will the customs fees be logical and reasonable?” he said. Barkhudaryan doesn’t share the fears by which the Turkish products will intrude into the Armenian market and will harm the local producers. According to him at the moment the regime of VAT tax levied at the border retains our market. In his words, if the customs service precisely levies these taxes and if our producers start to work in a more competitive environment there will be no jeopardy and we won’t suffer any consequences. “Vice versa, this will increase our competitiveness. The essential question here is whether the monopolies will remain or will be gone. If they remain the effect will be less. It depends on the political will of the government to determine the economic future of the country,” said the former deputy-minister. To the question whether it is the closed border that bans our government to show political will Barkhudaryan responded, “Of course not but the opening of the border and its effect largely depends on how fast the competition will grow in Armenia and whether businesses will be able to benefit from that. If the laws are followed then we will develop. If the monopolistic positions are going to be enrooted even more then we will lose again.”
