It was no accident that Yashar Aliyev, Azerbaijan's new ambassador to the U.S., began his first official visit to the United States on Friday with a stop in Houston.
His message to the energy capital of the world: The former Soviet state has vast oil and natural gas reserves, a new pipeline to transport them to the West and a strong desire to regain its status as a major regional energy hub.
"Who else could be such a good bridge between Europe and Asia?" Aliyev told the World Affairs Council of Houston during a luncheon address at the Magnolia Hotel.
Azerbaijan, which gained its independence in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, has struggled with the transition to a market economy and democratic government. But investment by U.S. oil companies has helped make the Eastern European nation one of the world's fastest-growing economies in recent years.
In a speech that was part history lesson and part sales pitch, Aliyev reminded the crowd that Azerbaijan — not the U.S. — drilled the first oil well in 1847, that its capital Baku at one point supplied half the world's oil needs and that American tourists are always welcome.
The best time to visit? "24/7, to say frankly," he said.
But he also criticized a 1992 U.S. provision that bans direct aid to Azerbaijan as "not wise." The provision, known as Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, was created to deter hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The countries have had a long-standing conflict over land in Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region.
He also acknowledged that the country needs to diversify its petroleum-based economy, a response to concerns that a huge influx of oil revenues in coming years could lead to inflation.
In early 2006, a consortium of Western oil companies began pumping 1 million barrels a day from a large offshore field, through a $4 billion pipeline it built from Baku to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. By 2010, revenue from this project will double the country's gross domestic product, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook Web site.
The pipeline is a challenge to Russia, a major supplier of natural gas to Europe, which is trying to find other sources as Russia raises prices.
And such projects could help Azerbaijan re-establish itself on the world energy stage.
"Certainly, they have that potential," said Mustafa Erkan, a visiting scholar to the University of Texas' Center for Energy Economics, who attended the Friday luncheon.
"I think Azerbaijan's future will be as prominent as it has been in the past," said Chuck Tanner, who oversees operations in Azerbaijan for Devon Energy. The Tulsa, Okla.-based oil company has a 5.6 percent stake in Azeri Chirag Guneshli in the Caspian Sea, one of the world's largest oil fields.
For his part, Aliyev said he wants to keep close ties to Houston, which has had a sister city relationship with Baku since the 1970s.
To that end, he was scheduled to meet Friday with Mayor Bill White about the prospect of participating in Houston's International Fest and enrolling more Azeri students in Houston universities.
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