AZERBAIJAN
GENERAL DATA
Area: 86.6 sq km
Population: 8,832,000 (2009 est.)
Capital: Baku
President: Ilham Aliyev
Religion: 93% Muslim, 4% Christians, 3% - other religions.
Life Expectancy: 63 (male), 71 (female)
GDP per capita (PPP): $8,620 (2008 est.)
GOVERNMENT
The president, Ilham Aliyev, has been in power since October 2003. According to the 1995 Constitution, the president is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The constitution proclaims the principle of the separation of powers, but in practice all—including the judiciary and the parliament—are subordinate to the president. The president appoints the cabinet of ministers, which is answerable to him, although it still presents an annual performance report to the parliament. In co-ordination with parliament, the president appoints the prime minister. President is being elected for a five-year term by direct popular vote.
The legislative power is held by the unilateral Milli Mejlis (National Assenbly) and the Supreme National Assembly in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Parliamentary elections are held every five years, on the first Sunday of November. The accuracy of the election results is checked and confirmed by the Constitutional Court. The laws enacted by the parliament, unless specified otherwise, go into effect on the day of their publication.
ECONOMY
After gaining independence in 1991, Azerbaijan became a member of the IMF and the World Bank. The banking system of Azerbaijan consists of the National Bank, commercial banks and non-banking credit organizations. The National Bank was created in 1992 based. The National Bank serves as Azerbaijan's central bank, empowered to issue the national currency, the Azerbaijani manat, and to supervise all commercial banks.
Azerbaijan generally has oil-driven economy. In September 1994, a 30-year contract was signed between the government and 13 oil companies, among them BP, Statoil, Exxon, LOKOIL. As Western oil companies are able to tap deepwater oilfields untouched by the Soviet exploitation, Azerbaijan is considered one of the most important spots in the world for oil exploration and development. Meanwhile the State Oil Fund was established as an extra-budgetary fund to ensure the macroeconomic stability, transparency in the management of oil revenue, and the safeguarding of resources for future generations.
Azerbaijan is also an important economic hub in the transportation of raw materials. The BTC oil pipeline became operational in May 2006 and extends more than 1,774 kilometers through the territories of Azerbaijan (440 km), Georgia (260 km) and Turkey (1114 km). The BTC is designed to transport up to 50 million tons of crude oil annually and carries oil from the Caspian Sea oilfields to global markets.
In 2008, Azerbaijan was cited as one of the top 10 reformers by the World Bank’s Doing Business report.
GEOGRAPHY
The total length of Azerbaijan’s land borders is 2,648 km, of which 1007 are with Armenia, 756 with Iran, 480 with Georgia, 390 with Russia and 15 with Turkey. The coastline stretches for 800 km, and the length of the widest area of the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea is 456 km. The territory of Azerbaijan extends 400 km from north to south, and 500 km from west to east. The three mountain ranges are the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, and the Talysh Mountains, together covering approximately 40% of the country. Nearly half of all the mud volcanoes on Earth are concentrated in Azerbaijan.
The main water sources are the surface waters. However, only 24 of the 8,350 rivers are greater than 100 km in length. All the rivers drain into the Caspian Sea in the east of the country. Azerbaijan’s four main islands in the Caspian Sea have a combined area of over thirty square kilometers.