Vital Caspian Graphics - Challenges Beyond Caviar

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| | | | | Azerbaijan’s post-industrial hangover JOURNALIST STORY By Kieran Cooke, BBC, Azerbaijan, May 2005 03 |||| Aslan Abbasov stands in the middle of the state run Azerchimia chemical factory in Sumgait, a vast Soviet-built industrial complex 20 kilometres north of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Rusty pipes stretch into the distance. Most of the buildings are wrecked. The air is heavy with the smell of chemicals. There is not a blade of grass in sight. “When I come in here I think of the battle of Stalingrad,” says Mr Abbasov, the plant’s director. “So much of the factory is falling down but we still continue production. There are large amounts of toxic chemicals about. We need millions of dollars to clean up the mess here but the funds are difficult to come by.” The industrial centre of Sumgait had been one of the most important producers of chemicals and associated materials in the former USSR. With independence gained in 1991 Azerbaijan suddenly lost the captive Soviet market for its goods. Much of the country’s infrastructure is in serious need of repair. Since independence, more than a million have left the country in search of jobs. According to a UN estimate, more than 50% of Azerbaijan’s population live below the poverty line. Industries in Sumgait once employed 45,000 - now only about 5,000 work at the complex. Workers say that environmental controls that existed in the old Soviet days have largely disappeared. ||| | | | | ||| ||| ||

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