Baku, August 1, AZERTAC

Javan Mesnard, Speaker of Arizona House of Representatives visited SOCAR Tower.

He was welcomed by Khalik Mammadov, SOCAR vice president for HR, IT and regulations, who pointed out close cooperation between SOCAR and business entities of Arizona since 2013 and informed the guest about the achievements of the energy projects in Azerbaijan and its role in social-economic development of the country and entire region. He said Azerbaijan as an old oil country became pioneer in drilling first ever oil well with percussion tools in 1846, first offshore field in 1949 and other remarkable occasions in the history of the world’s oil industry like first oil pipeline transportation. It was underlined that the US has always supported and joined the energy projects in Azerbaijan such as ExxonMobil participation in Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli. In 2016, the projects implemented in Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea were in the focus of attention during the meeting between Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR and Rex Tillerson, then CEO of ExxonMobil and present US Secretary of State. Today the United States give importance to the Southern Gas Corridor designed for Azerbaijani gas supplies to Europe.

Thanking for hospitality Javan Mesnard spoke about his activity as a lawmaker and said he participated in discussions and adoption of House of Representatives’ resolutions on Khojaly Genocide and Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Mesnard said he considered the transportation of energy products from Azerbaijan to Europe as an important issue and that during his meetings in Baku he found out Azerbaijan’s commitment to the development of relations with Arizona. He said his government was looking forward to developing cooperation with Azerbaijan in various fields, including the economy and he would inform the lawmakers about the development rates he saw in Azerbaijan during his visit. Mesnard said he believed in further cooperation and friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Arizona and SOCAR’s contribution to deepening of this relationship.