hairman]; Liberal Party of
Azerbaijan [Lala HAJIYEVA]; Vahdat Party [Leyla YUNUSOV, Gadzhi
ALIZADE]; Azerbaijan Muslim Democratic Party (former Islamic Party)
[Haji Mekhti SHAMILLI]; Azerbaijan Democratic Party or ADP [Ilyas
ISMAYLOV]; Civic Solidarity [Sabir RUSTAMXANLI]; Ana Vatan Party
[Fazail AGAMALI]

Political pressure groups and leaders: self-proclaimed Armenian
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic; Talysh independence movement; Sadval,
Lezgin movement

International organization participation: BSEC, CCC, CE (guest), CIS,
EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECO, ESCAP, FAO, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC,
IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ITU, NAM (observer),
OIC, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WTrO (observer)

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Hafiz Mir Jalal PASHAYEV
chancery: (temporary) Suite 700, 927 15th Street NW, Washington, DC
20005 or P. O. Box 28790, Washington, DC 20038-8790
telephone: [1] (202) 842-0001
FAX: [1] (202) 842-0004

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Stanley ESCUDERO
embassy: Azadliq Prospekti 83, Baku
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [9] (9412) 98-03-35
FAX: [9] (9412) 96-04-69

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

@Azerbaijan:Economy

Economy-overview: Azerbaijan is less developed industrially than
either Armenia or Georgia, the other Transcaucasian states. It
resembles the Central Asian states in its majority nominally Muslim
population, high structural unemployment, and low standard of living.
The economy's most prominent products are oil, cotton, and gas.
Production from the Caspian oil and gas field has been in decline for
several years, but the negotiation of more than a dozen
production-sharing arrangements (PSAs) with foreign firms, which have
thus far committed $30 billion to oil field 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 ex-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 refor