Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly or Milli Mejlis
(125 seats; members serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 12 and 26 November 1995 (next to be held NA
2000)
election results: percent of vote by party—NA; seats by party—NAP
and allies 115, APF 4, PNIA 3, Musavat Party 1, vacant 2
Judicial branch: Supreme Court
Political parties and leaders: New Azerbaijan Party or NAP
ELCHIBEY, chairman]; Party for National Independence of Azerbaijan
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, ICRM, IDA, IDB,
IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ITU, NAM
(observer), OIC, OPCW, 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
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Stanley T. ESCUDERO embassy: Azadliq Prospekt 83, Baku 370007 mailing address: American Embassy Baku, Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-7050
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
Economy—overview: Azerbaijan is less developed industrially than either Armenia or Georgia, the other Caucasian states. It resembles the Central Asian states in its majority Muslim population, high structural unemployment, and low standard of living. The economy's most prominent products are oil, cotton, and natural gas. Production from the Caspian oil field declined through 1997 but registered an increase in 1998. 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 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. A major short-term obstacle to economic progress, including stepped up foreign investment, 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 up with Turkey, Iran, the UAE, and the nations of Europe. A serious long-term challenge is the maintenance of the competitiveness of non-oil exports in world markets.