Man of the Hour: Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev

Man of the Hour: Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev

Introduction 

On July 24, 1957, president Uzbekistan, Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev was born. Since December 14, 2016, he has been the country's president and supreme commander of the armed forces. He is an Uzbek politician. Prior to this, Mirziyoyev served as the country's prime minister from 2003 to 2016. After becoming a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, Mirziyoyev began his political career. In 1990, he was chosen to serve as a deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR. He served as a governor (hakim) of a number of Jizzakh and Samarqand regions beginning in the middle of the 1990s before being chosen by the then-President Islam Karimov to become the head of state.

Politics and Career of Mirziyoyev

From 1996 to September 2001, he held the position of governor (Hakim) of the Jizzakh Region. From September 2001 until his nomination as prime minister in 2003, he held the position of governor of the Samarqand Region. On December 12, 2003, President Islam Karimov proposed him for the position of prime minister, which the Uzbek parliament subsequently confirmed. Prime Minister Otkir Sultonov was succeeded by him. Ergash Shoismatov acted as his assistant. 

On September 25, 2006, Mirziyoyev and South Korean Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook met in Tashkent. They agreed to a number of agreements, one of which required Uzbekistan to provide South Korea 300 tonnes of uranium ore year from 2010 to 2014. The agreement omits American businesses that previously served as middlemen for South Korean shipments of uranium ore from Uzbekistan. Han also had meetings with Erkin Xalilov, speaker of the parliament, and president Islam Karimov. 

Han and president Uzbekistan, Mirziyoyev increased collaboration in the fields of information technology, agriculture, construction, and energy. Between 2005 and 2006, trade between South Korea and Uzbekistan surged by over 40%, reaching $565 million. The Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan declared on October 24, 2021 that Mirziyoyev had won a second five-year term with 80.1% of the vote.

Mirziyoyev's take on Foreign Policy 

Compared to his predecessor, president Uzbekistan,  Mirziyoyev has a foreign policy that is far more open. After the Andijan tragedy in 2005, Uzbekistan was essentially cut off from the rest of the world, and Karimov hardly ever left Central Asia and the CIS. At the start of his presidency, Mirziyoyev pledged to pursue an active foreign policy.

Mirziyoyev travelled to China, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Turkey, and Kyrgyzstan during his first ten months in office. He also made four trips to Kazakhstan, three to Turkmenistan, two to Russia, and one each to China and Turkmenistan. He had meetings with the leaders of Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Bulgaria, Belarus, and Spain on various occasions. In November 2017, he had meetings with eight foreign prime ministers at the CIS Summit in Tashkent.

The gradual strengthening of relations with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is one of his most important foreign policy accomplishments. Three days after the anniversary of his predecessor's passing, on September 5, 2017, he paid a historic visit to Kyrgyzstan. Since 2000, the Uzbek president had not paid a state visit to the neighbouring nation. Mirziyoyev gave his first speech to the UN General Assembly on September 19, 2017.

The Bottom Line

Shavkat Mirziyoyev worked selflessly as Islam Karimov's colleague and close friend from the very beginning of Uzbekistan's independence, earning his respect and high regard. As the head of state, he has demonstrated exceptional abilities and leadership in putting wide-ranging socioeconomic reforms into practise, modernising and improving the nation, completing significant and one-of-a-kind projects, developing and protecting private property, dramatically raising the share of small businesses and private enterprise in the economy, and solidifying their legal security.