On December 31, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held an extended meeting, which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan – Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Sardor Umrzakov and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Alisher Paygamov.

At the meeting, it was announced that Vladimir Norov would now serve as Deputy FM of Uzbekistan.

Vladimir Norov, born in 1955 in Bukhara, was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 12, 2006, to January 12, 2010.

He worked as Uzbekistan’s ambassador to various countries in different years (1998-2003 – in Germany, Poland and Switzerland. 2005-2006 – in Belgium. 2014 – in Luxemburg).

In May 2017, Vladimir Norov was appointed Director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan. From 2019 to 2021, he served as Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. He has the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.