DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 337-3500
FAX: [1] (202) 337-5911
Consulate(s) general: Los Angeles

Diplomatic representation from the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Anne E. DERSE
embassy: 83 Azadlig Prospecti, Baku AZ1007
mailing address: American Embassy Baku, US Department of State, 7050
Baku Place, Washington, DC 20521-7050
telephone: [994] (12) 4980-335 through 337
FAX: [994] (12) 4656-671

Flag description:

three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), red, and green; a
crescent and eight-pointed star in white are centered in red band

Economy
Azerbaijan

Economy - 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.

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$64.66 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$31.32 billion (2007 est.)