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| Business profile |
| Economy: Political upheaval especially the war in Nagorno-Karabakh and disruption of trading links within the former Soviet Union resulted in a dramatic fall in production levels in Azerbaijan. Since the late 1990s, the economy has undergone a mild recovery. Agriculture is an important part of the economy in terms of both employment and production. Cotton, grain, fruit and vegetables are the major products; livestock rearing is the other main contributor to the sector. Traditionally, heavy industry, in the form of chemicals, steel and metal products, dominated the industrial sector but there are now also important light industrial operations devoted to food processing and textiles. However, the oil and gas industry offers the greatest promise for Azerbaijan's future economic development. Most of the reserves are located in the Caspian Sea basin and the Azeri government signed a number of major deals with a variety of consortia for the exploration and development of various offshore fields; the state oil corporation retains a partial share in all of these. In the last few years, the contribution of the service sector, especially transportation, telecommunications and trade-related activities, has grown sharply and now accounts for a large part of economy. |
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