President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Abduganievich Karimov

Islam Abduganievich Karimov was born on 30 January 1938 in Samarkand into a family of civil servants. He graduated from the Central Asian Polytechnic Institute and the Tashkent Institute of national economy, receiving degrees as an engineer-mechanic and economist.

He began work in 1960 at the “Tashselmash” (Tashkent agricultural machinery) plant. From 1961-66 he worked as an engineer, a leading engineer-constructor at the Tashkent aviation production complex.

In 1966 he started work at the State planning office of the Uzbek SSR where he was promoted from the position of a specialist to the position of a first deputy chairman of the State planning office.

In 1983 Islam Abduganievich Karimov was appointed Minister of finance of the Uzbek SSR, in 1986 – deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Uzbek SSR and chairman of the State planning office.

In 1986-89 he worked as first secretary of the Kashkadarya provincial party committee. Thanks to his great talent as a leader and organizer, his dedication and determination, ability and desire to be around people and to live with their concerns and interests, the situation in Kashkadarya region, which was under a very difficult socio-economic situation, has changed dramatically in a short period.

In June 1989 Islam Abduganievich Karimov was elected as first secretary of the Central committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan.

It was a time when the country was on the brink of a civil war, bloodshed, ethnic and religious conflicts, in line with the scenarios that were implemented in the neighboring countries. In this difficult period, he, with his foresight, will and determination saved our people and country from this gloomy fate.

It was then that our people acquired in the name of Islam Abduganievich Karimov a true leader with personal courage, indomitable will and vision of the essence of the ongoing extremely complex events, a special sense of responsibility for his country and people, for the fate of every compatriot.

On 24 March 24 1990 Islam Abduganievich Karimov was elected President of the Uzbek SSR at the session of the Supreme Council of the Uzbek SSR. On 29 December 1991 he was elected the First President of the Republic of Uzbekistan in multi-candidate elections.

Heading the independent Uzbekistan for 25 years, Islam Abduganievich Karimov has attained a high authority in the country and in international community as an outstanding statesman, who has developed and implemented a deeply thought-out strategy of building a democratic constitutional state with a civil society and a market economy.

Maintaining and strengthening independence of Uzbekistan has been the highest priority for President Islam Karimov and this has become a fundamental principle of his policy.

The peoples of Uzbekistan inextricably relate the great achievements of the country in the years of independence with the name and activity of the Head of our state. He is rightfully considered the author of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, fully meeting the democratic requirements and international criteria, and has turned into a true guarantor of its implementation.

In 1991 Uzbekistan was a backward agrarian country with a hypertrophied one-sided economy, a cotton monopoly, destructively influencing it, extremely low level of people's standard of living. The country did not produce many kinds of essential goods, did not provide its own needs, primarily on grain and energy resources.

Islam Abduganievich Karimov was firmly convinced that the political independence may not be achieved without achieving economic independence. Accordingly, he developed a program of fundamental reforms and structural transformation of the economy of Uzbekistan, based on the well-known five principles, which has received worldwide recognition as the "Uzbek model" of development. The fundamental basis of this model was the practical implementation of the strategic priority - "The reforms are not for the sake of reforms, but for the sake of people."

Under his initiative, mass-scale structural reforms have been carried out in Uzbekistan, completely new highly technological spheres of industry, such as oil and gas, chemical, car manufacturing, agricultural and railway machinery, pharmaceutical, electrotechnical, textile and construction materials industries, have been founded.

Unique industrial plants in a world scale such as Ustyurt and Shurtan gas chemical complexes, Bukhara oil refinery plant, Kungrad soda plant, Dehkanabad potash fertilizers plant, car manufacturing plants in Andijan, Samarkand, Tashkent and Khorezm regions have been built.

A modern road-transport and engineering-communications infrastructure has been created in the country, in particular railway lines Angren-Pap with a unique tunnel through Kamchik mountain pass and Tashguzar-Boysun-Kumkurgan have been constructed, high-speed rail connection from Tashkent to Samarkand, Bukhara and Karshi has been opened, international airports have been renovated, an international logistics centre at the Navoi airport and the Uzbek national highway have been established.

Uzbekistan’s growth rates among the top 5 developing economies of the world have been a practical manifestation of the results of the reforms, implemented by President Islam Karimov.

Islam Karimov organized deep transformations in agriculture, contributing to formation of a new class of land owners- farmers’ movement. On his initiative, a program of cardinal transformation of rural areas, construction of rural houses, ensuring quality and standards of living for rural population no less than in the cities, is under implementation.

Islam Abduganievich Karimov as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces has ensured radical reforms, improvement of combat power and potential of the Armed Forces, capable of protecting independence, territorial integrity of the Republic of Uzbekistan, inviolability of its borders, peaceful life of our people.

He has developed and implemented the Concept of foreign policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the cornerstone of which is peacefulness, based on non-interference in the internal affairs of other states and addressing emerging contradictions and conflicts only by peaceful, political means. The Head of our state made a great contribution to the preservation of peace and stability in the region and around the world.