On November 1, the President visited the western regions of the country, once again opening a number of newly built enterprises and projects, including a 75-km long highway, worth $31 million, and a new Olympic complex in Shemkir. “Our financial capacity is growing and our natural resources is our blessing. But we must think today what we will do in 50 years when our oil and gas resources will finish,” President Aliyev said during his trip. Last week, President Aliyev signed a decree, establishing a state educational exchange program which will send Azerbaijani students abroad with the help of oil revenues.

With the completion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the export of Azerbaijani oil is skyrocketing and so are the revenues to the state oil fund. The head of the State Oil Fund Shahmar Movsumov has informed journalists that by September 20, the total amount of funds accumulated in the State Oil Fund had reached 1,5 billion USD. Independent experts believe that in the next 20 years the oil revenues will reach close to $200 billion, a huge sum compared to the state budget of the country, at $4 billion. This massive influx of petrodollars allows the authorities to invest into the infrastructure and gain more popular support. For instance, in 2006 the government launched the construction of nine bridges in the capital city to ease traffic jams, and has completed the construction of 132 public schools.

The President’s visit to the regions also coincides with the three-year anniversary of his election as the head of the state. During his election campaign in 2003, he promised Azerbaijani voters to open 600,000 new jobs during his first term, a move aimed at reducing poverty in the country and eliminating the huge gap between the booming capital and the rest of the country. Since then, President Aliyev’s efforts have been focused on the issue of new jobs, and the state program on “the socio-economic development of the regions”, signed a month after his election was aimed along the same lines. President Aliyev also visited Lenkoran, Sheki and several other towns in the month of October alone.

Meanwhile, his opponents from the opposition parties warn that the reported new jobs in the regions of the country are highly inflated by the local authorities and that with these regional trips, President Aliyev has started an “early” election campaign, aimed at boosting his ratings ahead of the Presidential elections, scheduled for 2008. Indeed, as time is approaching, more and more parties are getting ready for the Presidential elections. Within the past two months, the Musavat party, the Azadliq bloc of political parties, and the Liberal party have all announced their intention to compete in the race with their own candidates. This shows the continuing pattern of fragmentation among the opposition parties.

With these protest notes in mind, even some independent experts do not deny the growing role of Azerbaijan in the region and the increasing capacity and power of the Azerbaijani state. Ilgar Mammadov, the chairman of the National Committee on the European Integration and an independent political expert, recently told ANS radio that even Armenia has to cope with the growing military power of Azerbaijan and the latter’s ability to invest billions of dollars into the army.

President Aliyev said during his trip, “Azerbaijan is a strong country now. We are realizing many projects domestically, and even region-wide, not a single regional project can be done without our participation [referring to the construction of Kars-Akhalkalaki railway project between Turkey and Georgia]. And our domestic policy is aimed at solving the social problems of our country.” Yet, with all his efforts to diversify the economy and open new job places, President Aliyev will also have to deal with the bureaucracy and corruption, hindering these goals.