SOCAR, Houston government boost coop

Azerbaijan`s state oil firm, SOCAR, and the government of Houston have inked a memorandum aimed at strengthening relations and cooperation between the company and the city`s authorities.

The document was signed during a visit of SOCAR`s vice-president Khalik Mammadov to the Houston City Council where he met senior officials of the city`s government, including senator Rodney Ellis.

The Houston officials praised SOCAR`s contribution to boosting ties between Azerbaijan and the United States. They also praised the role of Houston-Baku Sister City Association and its chairperson Irada Akhundova.

Mammadov said relations between Baku and Houston had rich history. “For more than a century Baku and Houston have been pioneers and centers of oil production, setting all new trends and novelties in the industry. Baku and Houston became sister cities as early as 1976, and in 1991, when Azerbaijan restored its independence, these relations entered a qualitatively new level,” said SOCAR`s vice president.

He added: “Symbolically, it is Houston where preparations for and discussions on the Contract of the Century were held under Azerbaijan`s incumbent President Ilham Aliyev, the then vice-president of SOCAR.”


The SOCAR vice-president said considerable work had been done under a memorandum of understating signed last year, particularly the opening of the Azerbaijani House and the organization of a festival of Turkic countries in Houston.


/AzerTAc/