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Highland Shirvan Economic Region covers Agsu, Ismailli, Gobustan, Shamakhy regions and is located in the Central part of Azerbaijan (Shirvan plain). The area of the economic region is 6.06 thousand km2 (7% of the territory of the country).
The landscape of the Economic Region can be divided into highland and plain areas. The region has different climate types, highlands have humid and moderately cold climate.
Plains have hot and dry climate. The lack of water resources is the main problem that prevents the use of lands for husbandry.
This region has less population than other regions. The population of the region is 257.4 thousand people (3.2% of the population of the country). Main natural resources of the region are oil, natural gas and shale oil. But Shirvan Economic Region does not have rich natural resources. The region mainly has stone, gravel, sand, lime and other construction materials. The clay fields in Shamakhy, Agsu, Ismailly regions have high importance for construction purposes. The highlands of the economic region have mineral waters, that can be used for treatment and resort purposes. The water of springs the content of which mainly consists of sulphur and hydrocarbons can be used for treatment and drinking.
The Economic Region is mainly specialized in husbandry, vine-growing, wine-making and cattle-breeding. Grain-growing is the major part of the husbandry. In highlands, where the lands is fertile the potato-growing is popular and in plain areas cotton-growing is wide spread. Other husbandry types are for daily household purposes. Water-melon and vegetables and fruit-growing, silkworm and bee-keeping are conducted in order to satisfy the local demand. Main sectors of cattle-breeding are cattle-raising and sheep-breeding.
Despite the fact that this region was populated long before than other regions, the industry here is not developed. The main sectors of the industry of the region are light and food industries that process the local agricultural products. The major parts of the light industry of the region are wine-making, fruit-growing, sewing and carpet weaving. The main part of the food industry relies on processing of the local vine-growing product – wine-making industry. There are canning plants, butter and cheese plants, bulk production enterprises operating in the region. Also the region has enterprises involved in timber mill, production of construction materials (timber mill in Ismailly region, stone quarry, brick factory in Shamakhy and Gobustan), repair of agriculatural machinery.
Historically the territory of Shirvan was the center of handicraft and weaving. Lahij is famous for its brazier products and Basgal is famous for its silk kerchiefs. There is a silk kerchief workshop operating in Shamakhy city. For most of the villages the carpet weaving is traditional type of handicraft.
Shirvan Economic Region has large transportation network. The trunk-railway Baku-Tbilisi enables the establishment of the economic relations with CIS countries. Along with railways there are motorways with local and national importance. The Baku-Gazakh motorway that connects Baku and western region crosses this region.
The social infrastructure of the region consists of specialized secondary education schools, universities (Shamakhy branches of State Pedagogical University and “Odlar Yurdu” university), educational and health organizations, museums and theatres. Pirgulu observatory is operating in the region. Also this region has favorable conditions for development of tourism sector.
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Economic Regions of the Azerbaijan Republic.
