A senior Armenian official in charge of normalization talks with Türkiye hailed on Wednesday Ankara’s move aimed at facilitating trade between the two countries.

Ruben Rubinyan, the Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament and Special Representative for Normalization with Türkiye, said in a statement that the new regulations formalized by Türkiye now enable businesses to engage in direct trade without re-declaring goods, as was done previously.

“Good news for businesspeople,” Rubinyan said on social media.

“Within the framework of the Armenia–Türkiye normalization process, due to a new regulation introduced in Türkiye, it will henceforth be possible for goods sent from Armenia to any third country and from there to Türkiye, or vice versa, to indicate the final destination or point of origin as ‘Armenia/Türkiye.’

In other words, direct trade between Armenia and Türkiye in customs terms—without re-documentation—has become possible.

We continue to work toward the opening of the [land] border, including the Gyumri–Kars railway,” Rubinyan added.

On May 13, Türkiye announced the completion of preparations to launch direct trade with Armenia.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan revealed the expected procedural changes earlier on May 12.