YEREVAN, January 24. / ARKA /. The transparency degree of the Armenian economy is unsatisfactory, Bekor Papazian, the executive director of the National Competitiveness Fund of Armenia, told reporters Saturday.

"The Armenian market is not closed, but the degree of its transparency and the presence of obstructions do not satisfy us, and it definitely should be more open", said Papazian.

According to him, the economic situation in Armenia will improve dramatically after the economic system becomes more open and transparent, and businessmen’s access to the market will be facilitated , based on the proposed cost of the product or service, rather than on the basis of secondary characteristics.

According to him, the government of Armenia as well as its international partner organizations are well aware of this need. He noted that this work should be done gradually, without abrupt changes, however, it must go on consistently, otherwise the Fund would lose meaning.

"We must exercise more active steps and today we are developing programs that will increase the cost of the final product and the return on our projects could be higher if the economic system will be more open and flexible, said Papazian.

In the 2010 Forbes Magazine’s list of most favorable countries for business (The Best Countries For Business) Armenia was s on the 96^th position out of 129 countries in the world, behind regional neighbors Georgia that was ranked 61, and Azerbaijan that was ranked 79th.

In its annual ranking of economic freedom, prepared by experts of Heritage Foundation, Armenia has sunk from 31th to 38 th place, but is much higher than neighboring Azerbaijan, which is on the 96^th position. -0-