Azerbaijan's Minister of Caviar and Juice

Food is big business, even more so in Azerbaijan, as Foreign Policy's Joshua Keating reports in his "Wikileaked" blog. In one of the Wikileaks cables from the United States embassy in Baku, Keating discovers some very juicy details about Azerbaijan's all-powerful Minister of Emergency Situations Kamaladdin Heydarov, who seems to have his hand in just about everything that goes on in the country, including the manufacture of juice and caviar. From the cable:

10. (C) Many of the family,s operations are part of the
"Gilan," "Qabala," "Jala," or "United
Enterprises International (UEI)" family of companies. Gilan Holdings is
omnipresent in Baku, as the company is one of several major real estate
developers and has been in the forefront of Baku's highly speculative real
estate market. Observers compare Gilan to Dubai World or Nakheel, although
admittedly on a smaller scale. The Heydarovs have largely cornered the fruit
juice market in Azerbaijan, maintaining extremely high prices for locally
produced juices and watered-down juice drinks, while making life difficult --
with the help of State Customs -- for cheaper competitors from Turkey, Ukraine
and Russia. When USAID tried to support the production and distribution of
pomegranate products in Azerbaijan, they quickly learned that no one sells
pomegranate juice, concentrate, or derivatives from Azerbaijan without Heydarov's
permission. Azerbaijan's economy is largely dominated by monopolistic
interests, and observers suggest that the Heydarovs are at the top of this
mountain of non-competition. It is rumored that the Heydarovs also have interests in the
local Pepsi bottler, the local license for Red Bull, British American Tobacco,
Japan Tobacco, and Imperial Tobacco. Heydarov has readily admitted to visiting
U.S. delegations that he owns and operates the Caspian Fish Company which
controls the lucrative (and previously Russian Mafia-controlled) Beluga Caviar
production in Azerbaijan.

More on Jala juice and its plans for world domination in this previous post.