Armenian Businessmen Come to Istanbul for Investments

By Ercan Baysal
Thursday, November 16, 2006
zaman.com

As the reactions to French parliament’s controversial Armenian genocide bill continue, the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen Association (TUSIAD) is taking the initiative to loosen tension between Armenia and Turkey.

Members of TUSIAD and the Union of Businessmen and Manufacturers of Armenia (UMBA) do not want France’s stance to overshadow relations so they will come together in Istanbul. UMBA was officially invited to the Black Sea and Caspian Industrialists Confederation Union meeting on Nov. 27.

TUSIAD president, Omer Sabanci, and UMBA chairman Arsen Ghazarian will also discuss their countries’ relations besides regular business negotiations.

Kaan Soyak, the Turkish-Armenian co-chair of the Council on Development of Economic Ties said Ghazaryan will invite TUSIAD members to Armenia to invest in textile, energy and telecommunication sectors.

Soyak said this meeting was important for Russia and the Armenian Diaspora:

“Turkey has become an attractive market thanks to the atmosphere of stability. Armenians in the Diaspora want to make investments in Turkey mostly in hotels, real estate and port sectors. They have made their applications to our council in this regard. These issues will be discussed during the meeting.”

“Armenia is a virgin market, right now they only have relations with Iran so we want Turkish investors there too,” said Soyak and added that this kind of commercial relationship could diffuse the tension between the two countries.

Trade between Turkey and Armenia takes place unofficially via Iran. According to unofficial statistics, the total trade volume between the two countries reached $200 million dollars.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) noted the Turkey-Armenia embargo costs about $570-720 million dollars to Armenia every year.

If the border gates were opened, Armenia’s transportation costs would drop by about 30-50 percent, its export volume would double and its Gross National Product would increase by about 30-38 percent.

According to World Bank statistics, Armenia’s savings in transportation costs would be about $6.4-8.4 million dollars, energy saving would be $45 million and its export volume would increase by about $269-342 million dollars. In this way Armenia’s total benefit from the opening of the border would be about $320-396 million dollars.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.