Azerbaijan, Baku, April 30 /Trend A. Badalova/
National leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev was an incredibly intelligent man and clever leader who created the modern Azerbaijan, Nabil Al-Khowaiter said.
Al-Khowaiter was one of the participants who signed the "Contract of the century", from the Arabian company Delta-Nimir (DNKL).
On September 20, 1994, in Baku 12 major oil companies representing eight countries in the world signed a large-scale international contract on joint development of three oil fields - "Azeri" - "Chirag" - "Guneshli" in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
The contract due to its high importance was named the "Contract of the Century". It went down in history as one of the largest agreements in oil sphere.
"I remember those days, it was a time of great uncertainty. There was no certainty that any contract with Azerbaijani government would be signed", Al-Khowaiter, currently a Senior Business Development Consultant at Saudi Aramco - one of the world's largest oil and gas companies - told Trend.
According to Al-Khowaiter, such situation was fraught with risks.
"But when Heydar Aliyev - very intelligent man - came to power, the first thing he did, as I remember, he made peace with two neighbors - Iran and Russia," Al-Khowaiter recalled.
"If not for Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan might have been divided, Al-Khowaiter believes. "And if it happened the country wouldn't have been so rich today", he said.
Al-Khowaiter also stressed a big role of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as a successor of the political and economic course of Heydar Aliyev.
According to Al-Khowaiter, Ilham Aliyev was able to enter international politics, and international relations.
"Azerbaijan has become a lot richer than before. The country became economically attractive, and important in world politics. I believe there has been a great amount of work done," he said.