1. Azerbaijan presentation

2. Geography Azerbaijan is a country situated in the Eastern part of the Caucasus, in Central Asia and the middle East. Ranks 91st in the world by population and 112. The Capital, Baku. The official language is Azerbaijani. The majority of the population professes Islam. Divided into 66 regions, 11 cities and 1 Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic. Part of Azerbaijan's territory is remained unrecognized. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, part - Armenia. Washed by the Caspian sea. Has land borders with Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Iran. Nakhichevan- Skye Autonomous Republic, an exclave Azerbaijan Borders with Armenia the North - East, Iran in the South - West, Turkey in the North-West.

3. Government Modern Azerbaijan was formed as a result of the collapse of the USSR (1991). The first President was the representative of the party nomenclature Ayaz Mutalibov. August 30,1991 the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopted a Declaration "On the restoration the state independence of the Azerbaijan Republic", on the 18th of October was the adoption of the constitutional act "On the state independence of the Azerbaijan Republic", which laid the Foundation of the state, political and economic structure independent of Azerbaijan. The President of the Azerbaijan Republic - head of state which, according to the Constitution, Azerbaijan is the state domestically and in foreign relations, embodies the unity of the people. Azerbaijan that provides continuity of Azerbaijani statehood, is the guarantor of the independence and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan state compliance with international agreements and treaties of the Azerbaijan. Republic, the guarantor of the independence of the judiciary, the Supreme Commander-in-chief of the Armed forces of the Azerbaijan Republic. Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan (2003). Son and successor President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev (1993-2003).

4. Population The population of Azerbaijan was 9 477 thousand people. The urban population on July 1, 2014 was 53,1 % of the population, and the rural 46.9 per cent. Men 49.7 % of the total population, women 50,3 %, i.e. for every 1000 men we have 1013 women. Life expectancy is 72.6 years, including men - 69.9 years, women 75.4 years. According to the State statistics Committee, first year average salary of employed people in Azerbaijan amounted to 406,8 manats, which is in dollars is 520 USD. Most believers are Shiite Muslims. There are also Muslims Sunnis (in the Northern part of the country, mainly Lezgins), Orthodox (Russian and Georgians) and Judah (the Jews). There are Protestants of various directions.

5. Transport In Azerbaijan there is the most important road transport. Generally, the length of roads is 59 141 km, paved 29 210 km where Highway in Azerbaijan follows a parallel to the main train of the highways. One of them runs along the Caspian sea from Russia to Iran, via Baku. Baku international port ferry operates since 1962. In recent years tanker oil transportation from Kazakhstan has dramatically increased. Railways are one of the main modes of transport in Azerbaijan, they accounted for about 40 % of turnover and up to 25 % of passenger traffic. The length of Railways - 2 195 km Baku metro was opened in November 6, 1967. It consists of two lines, one red and one green with total length of 33,1 km and it has 22 stations. The largest city of Azerbaijan is connected with Baku. The largest airport in Baku.

6. Economy and Industry Azerbaijan is an industrial - agrarian country with a highly developed industry and agriculture. The most important place in the economy of Azerbaijan occupies primarily oil and gas, refineries, chemical (mineral fertilizers, synthetic rubber, tires and other), engineering, mining industry (iron ore and alunite) and nonferrous metallurgy, diverse industry food (tea, tobacco, wine and lightweight(cotton, hlopchato- per, silk, wool, carpet) industry. Recently, the country produced gold. Azerbaijan is also the main producer of pomegranate juice. Agriculture is focused mainly on viticulture, horticulture, tobacco, horticulture, animal husbandry and sericulture. Main technical crops - cotton, tobacco, tea.

7. Economic future The pace of GDP growth in Azerbaijan in 2014 is projected at three percent. In May this year, the forecast of economic growth in the country was at the level of 3.5%. The slowdown in economic growth was caused by a transient decrease in production volume oil in the country, which led to lower GDP forecast up to three percent in 2014-2015 years. One of the reasons for the decline forecast for GDP growth in several countries Eastern Europe and the Caucasus also noted Ukrainian-Russian crisis. Thus, according to the concept of socio-economic development of Azerbaijan, prepared by the Ministry of economy in 2015, GDP growth rate projected at 5.8 percent. The IMF also forecasts a slowdown in the growth of the Azerbaijani economy, with five percent by the end of 2014 to 4.6 percent at the end of 2015. Note that since 2011,oi production was reduced in Azerbaijan. In the year of 2010, the country produced 50.8 million tons of oil in 2011 and volumes oil production fell by 10.8% to 45.4 million tons. In 2012, the production has already decreased by 5.3% to 43 million tons. In 2013, in the Republic 43,1 million tons of oil were extracted, but in 2014 the declining trend in the production continued in January - April, it was 1.4% and in January-July is 2.4%.

8. Sights and Attractions In the second half of the nineteenth century, when it was founded True (which later became Almaty), a few kilometers from the city, between the mountain slopes was built the village. The founder of this settlement became respected in the town entrepreneur Medeu Pusurmanov. When he died, gorge, which was built aul, got his name. After some time sanatorium in the gorge was built, and in 1972 year it was opened sports complex "Medeo“ that gained a global recognition. Above the gorge is the dam and ski resort "Chimbulak", also popular among the residents of Almaty. Besides, on the dam of a staircase, consisting of 842 steps thereare frequent competitions in speed the ascent. Towering over the young capital of the monument "Astana-Baiterek", truly became architectural symbol of Astana, a symbol of Kazakhstan. Moreover, it’s a symbolic capital in the centre of the world, geographically, it is at the exact centre of Eurasia. In 2002, the international jury awarded the Grand Prix of the monument "Astana- Baiterek" as the best project and the building of the year among the CIS countries.