Since independence, Azerbaijan has successfully improved both economic and trade relationships with its neighbors and other countries of the world. Above all, however, in the early years of independence, the fallout from the collapse of the U.S.S.R., including the loss of former Soviet economic connections, reverberated throughout Azerbaijan’s economy and caused a crisis in all spheres of the economy, including foreign trade. The sudden and difficult transition from a planned economy to a market economy created many challenges for not only Azerbaijan but all former Soviet countries.