Date of birth:  1948

Place of birth:  Ganje, Azerbaijan

Education:

• 1985-1987 -  Defended dissertation at the Institute of the Problems of Management,  USSR  Academy of Sciences.
• 1972-1974 -  Post graduate study at the Oil Academy.
• 1966-1971 -  Azerbaijan Institute of Oil and Chemistry (now The Oil Academy).

Employment:

• From  1994 to present - President, Center for Economic and Political Research.
• From  1995 to present - President, Entrepreneurship Development Foundation.
• 1993-1994 – head of the department of the supreme attestation commission under the Auspices of the president of Azerbaijan
• 1992-1993 - President, State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR)
• 1992-1993 - State Adviser for Azerbaijani President for Strategic Programs
• 1977-1992 - Deputy Director of the Computing Center of the Machine-building  Company (AZNEFTXIMMASH)
• 1974-1977 - Chief of a laboratory at the same Institute
• 1971-1972 - engineer of the oilfield machine-building technology Institute

Work experience with international organizations and private companies:

• 1994 – 2003 – consultant for several private companies on Caspian energy Projects;
• in 1998 and in 2004 – was consultant of World Bank on Azerbaijan energy projects;
• 1992 – 2006 – speaker / participant of several conferences held by WB, IMF, IFC, EBRD, OECD, CIPE, TI, IREX, OSI etc;

Current positions in non-governmental sector:

• Founder and Member of Board of Transparency Azerbaijan
• Founder and Member of Council of NGO Coalition EITI-Azerbaijan

Languages:  Turkish, Russian, spoken English.

Travel: USA, England, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, France, Turkey, Iran, Georgia, Austria, Tailand, Canada, Belgium, Oman, UAE, China, Hungary, Bulgaria, Thailand, Czechia, Kazakhistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Belorussia, Moldov