Participation of the Azerbaijani Representative at the 11th International Gas Congress (Moscow, 1970)

This working paper, based on the official documents of the 11th International Gas Congress (Moscow, 9–13 June 1970), analyses the nature of participation by Abutalib Mir Aga oglu Abdullaev (in Soviet documents, Abutalib Miragaevich Abdullaev), Head of the Chief Gas Administration under the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR (Glavgaz of the Council of Ministers of the Az. SSR), in this international scientific and technical forum. Unlike the Hamburg Congress of 1967, where Abdullaev participated exclusively in an administrative-expert capacity, in Moscow he appeared as a co-author of the official Section D report. The study shows that this change in status reflected both the strategic rise of Azerbaijan within the Soviet gas system following the launch of the IGAT-1 project and Abdullaev’s personal professional standing at the all-union level.