Opening of Armenian-Turkish border will trigger development of economic ties – Mirzoyan

YEREVAN, March 11. /ARKA/. There is a direct correlation between the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border and the development of trade relations, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said in an interview with Turkish TV channel TRT World.

Regarding the normalization process, he said that two countries have appointed special envoys, they have been discussing things quite intensively, also there were several meetings on the ministerial level, there were some interactions, conversations, meetings between Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Erdogan.

‘Many things have already been done, many things are being discussed, many things are agreed, but still are not done, for instance, the opening of the border for third-country nationals, but also Armenian and Turkish citizens who hold diplomatic passports. This was agreed, unfortunately, this is not realized yet, but hopefully will be done in near future. And there are also some other confidence-building measures, on which we already agreed, like a joint project regarding the Ani bridge, the historical recovery and of the historical bridge, etc. So I would say knock on the wood, again we are in the middle of the process, but it’s also, already time to see very tangible things happening on the ground.‘

Mirzoyan said if ‘we open the borders, the business will pave its way on its own. So, here we are, we have, my impression is that we have political leadership and political will from both sides. So, we are almost there, I think, and if we make final steps, if we open the borders, then the economic ties will pave their way.’ -0-