BAKU (Reuters) - Azeri Energy Minister Natig Aliyev died on Friday, a day after being transferred to hospital in Istanbul for treatment for a heart complaint, Azeri news agency APA-Economics reported.

The 69-year-old veteran executive in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan’s energy sector was president of state energy company SOCAR and chaired the company’s board of directors between 1993 and 2005.

He was appointed energy and industry minister in 2005 and became energy minister in 2013.

Aliyev represented Azerbaijan in its negotiations with foreign companies over major energy contracts and took part in talks with OPEC members on global oil production cuts.