Armenia hopes to resume rail traffic with Turkey

He said the Gyumri-Kars link would make imports into Armenia much cheaper and that Armenian exports to Turkey would also go down in price seriously and would hence become more competitive.

"In addition, opening the border with Turkey will make it easier to come to terms with Georgia, which has set obviously excessive prices for the transit of Armenian goods through its territory," Manukyan said.

One of the leaders of Justice, an Armenian opposition bloc represented in parliament, also spoke on Saturday in favor of opening the Armenian-Turkish border. "Opening the Armenian-Turkish border will by no means prevent Armenia defending the idea of international recognition of the fact of anti-Armenian genocide," Vazgen Manukyan told reporters.

Today the bulk of Armenian cargo traveling to Turkey is carried via Georgia and Iran.