As long as borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan are closed, Armenia out of economic growth

Armenia's economy will not improve in the long term as long as the borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey are not open, and as long as Armenia does not become a regional market, the intersection of infrastructures and communications, Carnegie Endowment senior associate specializing in the South Caucasus region, Thomas de Waal said in an interview with "Freedom" radio.

"In the short term the goal is to maximize the use of existing capacity. For example, it is possible to make some big oligarchs pay taxes, to allocate a share of their profits to the state, work on the development of small enterprises, and eliminate monopoly. But it is also associated with political questions since we are talking about authorities' friends, relatives, strong political support," he said.

It becomes clear that all, who served as Armenian president, have very little room for manoeuvre, which is why Russia and other foreign players have such leverage on the Armenian authorities, the analyst said.


/Trend/