Mustafayev was born on 13 June 1965 in the village of Jujevan in the Noyemberyan District of the Armenian SSR.

In 1989, he graduated from the Baku branch of Voznesensky Saint Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance.

He then served as the Vice President for Economic Relations of SOCAR from 1 March 2005 until 9 September 2006.

On 31 October 2008 Mustafayev was appointed the Minister of Economic Development replacing Heydar Babayev.

[1][2] Within the first few days of taking office, Mustafayev carried out a swift restructuring, firing some previous department directors of the ministry.