Mr. Elshad Nassirov--Vice President of SOCAR

Elshad Nassirov, SOCAR's vice-president on investments and marketing, was born in 1960, in Baku. In 1982 he graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He worked in 1981-1982 in USSR embassy in Afghanistan, in 1982-1985 in Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, in 1985-1989 at different positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of USSR. He worked in 1989-1992 in Soviet Embassy in India. As Azerbaijan gained its state independence, in 1992-1995 Mr. Nassirov worked in the Permanent Representative Office of Azerbaijan in the UN, and in 1995-1997 he was promoted to the position of chief of division in the administration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. In 1997-2003, Mr. Nassirov worked as a chief of the Foreign Economic Operations Department, and in 2003-2005, as a chief of the Marketing and Operations Department of SOCAR. By the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, in December 28, 2005, he was appointed as vice-president of SOCAR on investments and marketing. Elshad Nassirov is also the vice-president of Azerbaijan's Football Federations' Association. In 2010, he was awarded the Glory order, under the Decree of the President of Azerbaijan. He is fluent in Russian, English, Persian, and Indian. Mr. Nassirov is the member of Yeni Azerbaijan Party. 

SOCAR

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) is the state-owned oil and gas corporation headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is one of the largest O&G companies in the world. The company is involved in production of oil and natural gas from both onshore and offshore fields in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea. In addition, it operates the country's two oil refineries, one gas processing plant and runs several oil and gas export pipe lines throughout the country. It has a number of fuel filling stations under the SOCAR brand in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Romania and Switzerland. The company has about 61,000 employees.