YEREVAN. – A group of car importers of Armenia are staging a protest outside the government building.

Tigran Hovhannisyan, President of the “Driver League Protection” NGO, said they are against the construction of a new car customs clearance office in Gyumri.

“We consider it impossible for people to travel to Gyumri from [capital city] Yerevan and other cities to carry out customs clearance [of their cars],” he said. 

In his words, three months have left before the car importers of Armenia will be left without a job.

“Now what’s the need to build that customs point on the threshold of winter and for all of us to head for Gyumri in the last two months?” he asked and continued: “I want to ask the Prime Minister a question: Customs clearance of one thousand cars takes place daily. Can you imagine how many accidents there will be on the roads? You have to change tires [for winter], you have to stay one to two days in Gyumri.”

Also, Hovhannisyan noted that about 10,000 cars—bound for Armenia—are currently waiting at the ports of various countries.

“There are three ships docked in Poti,” he added. “They’re not unloading the cars of the Armenians.

“You still need to change the steering wheel [from right to left], which takes one to two months. After January, 10,000 people won’t be able to bring their car to Armenia.”