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YEREVAN. - Corruption and absence of independent judiciary are barriers to economy, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of European and Eurasian Affairs, Bridget Brink said in an interview with Aysor.am and Armenia TV Monday.

“So this is the second ATF that I have participated in. The last one was in November last year and in that time we had been working closely on a long list of issues to try to move them forward. The Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) and Trade Facilitation Agreement (ATF) are both designed to find ways to reduce barriers to trade and to talk very openly and frankly about those barriers. So, one of the things that is a barrier in many countries, in my own country as well, is corruption. So, we talked about that in this forum as well and talked about the importance of eliminating corruption, at [both] high level [and] low level, and any way that is possible to strengthen and support steps by the Anti-Corruption Council as well as other mechanisms that are in place to try to fight corruption,” she noted.

According to Ms Brink, “t piece that is important to attract direct investment that we are trying to support for Armenia is an independent judiciary so that businesses that know that they would get a fair shake, so we would say in the judicial system.”

“It’s a very important aspect of assessing the risk of investing money in any country. So we strongly support efforts to reform justice sector, to ensure that there is an independent judicial system that businesses can also have confidence in,” she added

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