Careers, Jobs and Education Resources for: Azerbaijan

Economic Overview

Azerbaijan's high economic growth in 2006 and 2007 is attributable to large and growing oil exports. azerbaijan's oil production declined through 1997, but has registered an increase every year since. negotiation of production-sharing arrangements (psas) with foreign firms, which have committed $60 billion to long-term oilfield development, should generate the funds needed to spur future industrial development. oil production under the first of these psas, with the azerbaijan international operating company, began in november 1997. a consortium of western oil companies began pumping 1 million barrels a day from a large offshore field in early 2006, through a $4 billion pipeline it built from baku to turkey's mediterranean port of ceyhan. by 2010 revenues from this project will double the country's current gdp. azerbaijan shares all the formidable problems of the former soviet republics in making the transition from a command to a market economy, but its considerable energy resources brighten its long-term prospects. baku has only recently begun making progress on economic reform, and old economic ties and structures are slowly being replaced. several other obstacles impede azerbaijan's economic progress: the need for stepped up foreign investment in the non-energy sector, the continuing conflict with armenia over the nagorno-karabakh region, pervasive corruption, and elevated inflation. trade with russia and the other former soviet republics is declining in importance, while trade is building with turkey and the nations of europe. long-term prospects will depend on world oil prices, the location of new oil and gas pipelines in the region, and azerbaijan's ability to manage its energy wealth.

Environmental Issues

Local scientists consider the abseron yasaqligi (apsheron peninsula) (including baku and sumqayit) and the caspian sea to be the ecologically most devastated area in the world because of severe air, soil, and water pollution; soil pollution results from oil spills, from the use of ddt pesticide, and from toxic defoliants used in the production of cotton

Government Type

Republic

Population

8,177,717 (july 2008 est.)

Location

Southwestern asia, bordering the caspian sea, between iran and russia, with a small european portion north of the caucasus range

Area

Total: 86,600 sq km land: 86,100 sq km water: 500 sq km note: includes the exclave of naxcivan autonomous republic and the nagorno-karabakh region; the region's autonomy was abolished by azerbaijani supreme soviet on 26 november 1991

Slightly smaller than maine

Country Aliases

Conventional long form: republic of azerbaijan conventional short form: azerbaijan local long form: azarbaycan respublikasi local short form: azarbaycan former: azerbaijan soviet socialist republic

Capital

Name: baku (baki, baky) geographic coordinates: 40 23 n, 49 52 e time difference: utc+4 (9 hours ahead of washington, dc during standard time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last sunday in march; ends last sunday in october

Military Service

Men between 18 and 35 are liable for military service; 18 years of age for voluntary military service; length of military service is 18 months and 12 months for university graduates (2006)

International Disputes

Armenia supports ethnic armenian secessionists in nagorno-karabakh and since the early 1990s has militarily occupied 16% of azerbaijan; over 800,000 mostly ethnic azerbaijanis were driven from the occupied lands and armenia; about 230,000 ethnic armenians were driven from their homes in azerbaijan into armenia and nagorno-karabakh; azerbaijan seeks transit route through armenia to connect to naxcivan exclave; organization for security and cooperation in europe (osce) continues to mediate dispute; azerbaijan, kazakhstan, and russia have ratified caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance, while iran continues to insist on an even one-fifth allocation and challenges azerbaijan's hydrocarbon exploration in disputed waters; bilateral talks continue with turkmenistan on dividing the seabed and contested oilfields in the middle of the caspian; azerbaijan and georgia continue to discuss the alignment of their boundary at certain crossing areas