Abdulla Aripov

Abdulla Aripov was born in Tashkent on 24 May 1961. In 1983 he graduated from the Tashkent Electrotechnical Institute of Communications (now the Tashkent University of Information Technologies) as a telecommunications engineer and began work as an engineer at the Tashkent telephone and telegraph exchange. In the 1990s he held posts in the Ministry of Communications and the postal and telecommunications agency, and in 1997–2000 he ran the State Fund for the Development of Post and Telecommunications.

In 2001 he became director general of the Uzbek Agency for Post and Telecommunications. On 30 May 2002 he was appointed deputy prime minister, head of the complex for communications and information technology and director general of the Communications and Information Agency; his remit later grew to cover social affairs, science, education, health and culture. In 2004 he defended a dissertation on the management of the information and communication sector and holds the degree of candidate of economic sciences and the title of docent.

He was relieved of the post of deputy prime minister in August 2012 and worked in education in 2012–2016. In September 2016 he was appointed deputy prime minister again, and on 12 December 2016 the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan nominated him for prime minister; a joint session of the chambers of the Oliy Majlis confirmed him on 14 December.

He was confirmed as head of government again in January 2020 and on 20 November 2024, after parliamentary elections. In August 2024 he visited Kabul, the most senior foreign official to do so since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. His honours include the Order of Labour Glory (2006), the Order of Friendship (2011) and the Order for Selfless Service (2021), as well as Tajikistan's Order of Ismoili Somoni, 2nd class (2018) and Kazakhstan's Order of Dostyk, 2nd class (2021).

He should not be confused with the poet Abdulla Oripov, a different person.