Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan was often overlooked and somewhat low-key among the three Transcaucasian states – Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is located in the western part of Asia, bordered by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north by the Greater Caucasus Mountains, and Iran to the south. The area of this country reaches 8660,000 square kilometers, the population has increased from 6.9 million in 1991 to 10 million now, an increase of 40%.
Among these countries that became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan had the highest population growth rate. The topography of the country is characterized by high in the north and south, slightly lower in the middle, and the mountains occupy about half of the country's land area.
This makes it impossible to reach the humid air currents blowing from the Atlantic, so the climate is generally arid, with annual precipitation of around 500 mm in most areas. However, in the southeastern Caspian Lenkoran lowlands, the climate is the most humid climate, rich in tea and citrus.
Azerbaijan has two unique and interesting features of administrative divisions: first, although the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic is part of Azerbaijan, it has formed an "enclave" due to its isolation from Armenia; Second, although the population of the Nagorno-Kara** Autonomous Region is mainly Armenian, Azerbaijanis are only a minority, which makes the relationship between Azerbaijan and Armenia very acute and often leads to armed clashes between the two ** groups on the border.
As a former member of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan's economy has obvious Soviet economic characteristics, especially heavy industries, such as petroleum processing, machinery manufacturing and non-ferrous metallurgy, which account for a large proportion of industrial output.
The oil industry, in particular, has been the backbone of its economy for many years, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total industrial output.
Azerbaijan is the birthplace of the Soviet oil industry, and the quality of the output is high, and it is the main product of the Soviet Union in refining special oils. Until the 50s of the 20th century, Azerbaijan's oil production was the highest in the USSR.
But later, with the development and production of oil in the Volga-Urals and Siberian regions of the USSR, the position of Azerbaijan declined relatively, and oil production remained stable at 12 million - 14 million tons per year.
It is worth mentioning that the Nafshiran oilfield, located near Kirovabad, is rich in naphthalene, which has insecticidal and anti-inflammatory effects, so it is widely used in the production of pharmaceutical raw materials.
In the vicinity of the oil field, a sanatorium with oil as the main drug has also been established - Naftalan Petroleum Sanatorium, which is very rare in the world.
Since independence from the Soviet Union, and especially into the 21st century, Azerbaijan's oil production has skyrocketed with the development of international energy sources. Oil production exceeds 30 million tonnes a year, reaching 37.5 million tonnes last year.
Much of this extracted oil is exported, bringing in nearly $10 billion a year in revenue for Azerbaijan. In some years, Azerbaijan's economic growth rate has even reached a staggering 20%.
Agriculture in Azerbaijan is also well developed, with a high degree of intensification and specialization. The agricultural areas are mainly distributed in the central Kura River basin and the Arras River basin in the south.
Irrigated areas account for more than two-thirds of arable land, while cash crops are the main sectors of agriculture, including cotton, tea, grapes, fruits, vegetables and tobacco.
As an exporter of resources, Azerbaijan has suffered an economic decline in recent years due to fluctuations in international oil prices, and even a recession in 2016.
At its peak, Azerbaijan's GDP per capita was close to $8,000, but by 2016 it was less than $5,000. According to the data, Azerbaijan's total GDP in 2018 was $47 billion, which is not even comparable to Ningxia in China.
In fact, Ningxia is much smaller than Azerbaijan in terms of area and population.
Azerbaijan actively cooperates with China in a variety of fields, including infrastructure construction, energy, chemical industry, transportation, communications and tourism. The prospects for economic cooperation between the two countries are bright!