YEREVAN. – Armenia needs a better performance on trading across borders, UK Ambassador to Armenia, Ms Katherine Leech, told on Wednesday in Yerevan.

Speaking at the roundtable by the office of the Ombudsman on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, she told that Armenia has had a record of fair and impartial treatment of investors, mentioning the successful case of a British mining company, Lydian International, whose subsidiary, Geoteam CJSC, is about to start developing the Amulsar goldmine in the South of Armenia.

Speaking on the progress across the board, she acknowledged the efforts of Armenian authorities to create a very smooth framework to start a business.

The country has a somewhat weaker record on trading across borders, regulations of connection to the power grid, and practices of enforcing business contracts. This pulls down the otherwise good ranking of the country in the World Bank’s Doing Business index (45th of 189).

Regulation must be as clear as possible for business, and this is another obstacle cited by Armenian entrepreneurs, she added.

“Existing inefficiency of some regulations, their being out of line with current practices, is a breeding ground for bribery, as it increases the temptation to pay the bribe and have things done”, she added.