YEREVAN, September 30. / ARKA /. The Western Union global payment system would not mind to going back to the Armenian market, president of the system Hikmet Ersek said in an interview to Russian business daily ‘Vedomosti”.
He said the reason why Western Union decided to choose Azerbaijan and leave Armenia was political- namely, the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
According to Hikmet Ersek, central banks of both countries demanded that Western Union choose one of these countries.
“I wish we could work in Armenia as well, but we have to adapt to circumstances. If Armenia agreed tomorrow, we would gladly go there to start the business,’ he said.
Western Union cooperated with Armenian banks in the test mode since 1995. Officially, it began operating here since 1996, but in 2008 August the Central Bank of Armenia banned Armenian banks from cooperating with it due to Western Union’s refusal to make money transfers to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Another three remittance systems were banned in Armenia because of the same reason -Leader, Migom and Zolotaya Korona (Golden Crown). —-0—–
