Guivami Rahimli – BP External Engagement Policy Advisor has met many VIP guests at the Sangachal Terminal – presidents, prime-ministers, parliamentarians and other notable figures. Educating the world leaders about BP’s activities in Azerbaijan and the region is a part of his job portfolio.
AT: BP’s Compass magazine named you ‘a man whom presidents listen to’. Who was the first president you met?
G.R.: President Heydar Aliyev. I had met him on several occasions as the chairman of the Azerbaijan-Norway Friendship Society which was established in 1995 to create bonds of cooperation between Norway and Azerbaijan across a wide range of areas, including culture, education and business activities. Among honored guests of the friendship society were President Heydar Aliyev, Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg, and world famous archaeologist and historian Thor Heyerdahl. And as a result of these meetings President Heydar Aliyev included me – the only non-government representative, to his government delegation during his official visit to the Western European countries to organize his meeting with Azeri Diaspora in Norway.
AT: How many delegations have you met at the Sangachal Terminal?
G.R.: Many hundreds. Only the last two years Sangachal hosted more than 200 VIP visits. Among them – 10 Presidents and Prime Ministers, 4 Speakers of Parliaments and quite a few other VIPs, including ministers, ambassadors, senators, congressmen, MPs, NATO representatives and international media.
AT: Who are the most famous people who visited Sangachal?
G.R.: First of all they are the country presidents including Viktor Yushenko(Ukraine), Michael Saakashvili (Georgia), Nursultan Nazarbayev (Kazakhstan), Ahmed Nejded Cezer (Turkey), Valdus Adamkus (Lithuania), Toomas Hendrik Ilves (Estonia), Valdis Zatlers (Latvia), Pascal Couchepin (Switzerland), and Roh Moohyun (South Korea). Then the heads of governments of Hungary, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Belorussia, Moldova, Lithuania, South Korea, Jordan and other influential political figures as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey), Barak Obama, as a part of the US senate delegation, Prince Andrew – Duke of York and Prince Michael of Kent (UK), speakers of the parliaments of Turkey, Poland, Japan, Afghanistan were among Sangachal guests.
AT: Who impressed you the most?
G.R: All these dignitaries whom I have met they are outstanding personalities. It can’t be otherwise as they represent the whole nation. Being outstanding personalities, they were phenomenon characters. Let me tell you about two of them out of the long list of VIPs. Heydar Aliyev was a man of gigantic political stature. He had the phenomenal personal qualities: brilliant memory, strong analytical mind, very articulate, and an incredible ability to gravitate people, including his opponents, to his camp. You could always feel the power of his presence, while his charisma attracted many genius intellectuals, like Mstislav Rostropovich, Muslim Magomayev, etc.
The other great character that impressed me most was President of Switzerland Pascal Couchepin. I couldn’t help admiring his brilliant ability to attract the audience, an easy-going manner and his great sense of humor in communication.
AT: Why does BP need to meet guests at the Sangachal terminal?
G.R.: The Caspian oil & gas developments are the largest current energy development in the world which unlocks Caspian reserves and delivers to European & world markets. Sangachal is a strategic hub for the Caspian. It is the place where all the pipelines from BP’s off shore fields come and from where all the export routes start. It is unique in terms of being the greatest integrated oil and gas terminal and plays an important role in global energy security. The export BTC oil pipeline and SCP gas pipeline which start from the ST provide incremental non-Persian Gulf, non-Russian oil and gas supplies and they add to global supply diversity and energy security. Sangachal has shown the benefit of being able to build one picture of our long-term oil and gas development options. So, it creates a greater ‘sense of occasion’ for visiting groups and affords us an opportunity to meet the expectations of external audiences keen to learn more about the developments in this region.
AT: What is the most interesting aspect of your job?
G.R.: Thinking strategically and arriving at innovative solutions to business and reputational challenges are the most interesting aspect of my job. And it is the part of my job, which consists of the creative elements and helps to maintain professional presence at the meetings. At times some of my colleagues are surprised finding me working on the context of the presentation material adjusting it to the needs of the visiting groups. They think that I do the same presentations to all the visiting groups. As a matter of fact, I always make it different.
AT: What is the great challenge for you?
G.R.: Meeting the world leaders is already a great challenge. But when you have to meet their tight schedule working under pressure, when you have accompanying media crews with cameras around, high-lighting the event and at the same time you have to draw a good picture of what we are doing in this part of the world and delivering the right messages to the audience the challenge doubles. When you meet these challenges, you get real satisfaction.
AT: Are you tired of pleasing celebrities?
G.R.: Not at all. I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with a fantastic team of professional colleagues who back up me. And together, we have a great deal of enthusiasm and energy to offer in addressing practical activities in a creative manner, thus as you mentioned “pleasing celebrities.” Delivering strong performance makes me feel very proud and I enjoy of being amongst “history makers” of this region, particularly in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan Today Magazine.
