Private guides and guided tours in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

CAPITAL CITY OF Azerbaijan: Baku
LANGUAGE OF Azerbaijan: Azerbaijani (Azeri)
CURRENCY OF Azerbaijan: Azerbaijani manat (AZM)
COMMENTS ABOUT Azerbaijan:

Cities : Baku (capital), Gance, Lankaran, Mingechivir, Naftalan, Nakhichevan City, Sheki, Sumqayit
Electricity : 220V/50Hz (European plug)
Calling Code : +994
Time Zone : UTC+4
Azerbaijan - a nation with a Turkic and majority-Muslim population - regained its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Azerbaijan has yet to resolve its conflict with Armenia over the Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh enclave (largely Armenian populated). Azerbaijan has lost 16% of its territory and must support some 800,000 refugees and internally displaced persons as a result of the conflict. Corruption is ubiquitous and the promise of widespread wealth from Azerbaijan's undeveloped petroleum resources remains largely unfulfilled.

CLIMATE OF Azerbaijan: dry, semiarid steppe
RELIGION OF Azerbaijan: Muslim 93.4%, Russian Orthodox 2.5%, Armenian Orthodox 2.3%, other 1.8% (1995 est.)
POPULATION OF Azerbaijan: July 2008 estimate 8,177,717>>
CULTURE OF Azerbaijan: the Maiden Tower, Palace of the Shirvanshahs,the Gobustan State Reserve, the Fire Temple of Baku, the Momine Khatun Mausoleum, the Khan Palace in Sheki,the Shirvan Shahs' palace in Baku, the palace of the Shaki Khan's, the Surakhany Temple
ECONOMY OVERVIEW OF Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan's number one export is oil. 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 thus far 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. 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. One obstacle to economic progress is the need for stepped up foreign investment in the non-energy sector. A second obstacle is the continuing conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. 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 pipelines in the region, and Azerbaijan's ability to manage its oil wealth.