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In This Issue:
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Fact of the Week:
The highest point in
Azerbaijan is Mount Bazardüzü. At 14,715 feet,
it is higher than
Washington state’s
Mount Rainier.
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Azerbaijan Airlines Places $40M Engine
Order With U.S. Firm
 Ohio-based GE Aviation said Dec. 8 that Azerbaijan Airlines has ordered new airplane engines valued at $40 million to power two new Boeing 767-300ER aircraft it is purchasing.
Delivery of the engines will begin in 2010, the company said.
Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s national flag carrier, purchased its first Boeing 757-200 aircraft in 2000. Since then, it has regularly reinforced its fleet with additional new Boeings, Airbuses, and Avions de Transport Regional, or ATRs. Azerbaijan Airlines currently flies to some 20 international destinations.
Azerbaijan Airlines previously ordered engines from GE-Snecma joint venture CFM International for its Boeing 737-900 aircraft, as well as GEnx engines for two Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, GE Aviation said.
Numbers Show Increased Commercial
Diversification in Azerbaijan
 Azerbaijan’s moves to diversify its economy away from energy are working, a recent report by Radio Free Europe said.
“The widely held perception that Azerbaijan's economy is almost wholly dependent on the extraction and export of hydrocarbons is rapidly becoming an anachronism,” the Dec. 4 article reported.
For the first time, the first 10 months of 2008 saw the non-energy sector of the economy grow faster than the oil and gas sector, with growth recorded at 15.4 percent compared to 12.7 percent in the previous year. The non-energy sector accounted for over one-third (34.1 percent) of total GDP.
Azerbaijan’s draft budget had envisaged GDP growth in non-energy sectors at 10.5 percent in the rest of the economy. In recent years, Azerbaijan has been among world leaders in terms of sustained annual GDP growth, with 34.5 percent in 2006 and over 29 percent in 2007.
Under President Ilham Aliyev, the country has made a concerted move toward encouraging new business start-ups, reducing paperwork and bureaucratic hurdles to entrepreneurs. The reforms were lauded by the World Bank’s annual “Doing Business” report this year, which named the country the global leader in its pace of implementing business reforms.
The Azerbaijan government has undertaken the reforms in order to ward off the so-called “Dutch disease” found in some countries that rely heavily on oil and gas for revenues.
Azerbaijan Clears Hurdle for
Nuclear Research Reactor Study
 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has approved a project to construct the first nuclear research reactor in Azerbaijan, media reported this week.
Adil Garibov of Azerbaijan’s National Academy of Science said that within three years the institute will prepare a feasibility study on the project and present it to the IAEA.
The IAEA has agreed to allow construction of a 30 megawatt research reactor, estimated to cost approximately $36 million, media reported.
The same reports said Azerbaijan is also considering preparing and introducing package of proposals on the construction of the nuclear power station in Azerbaijan as an important source of alternative power in the country.
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