The Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has nominated Vladimir Norov, Director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan, for the post of SCO Secretary-General.
If approved by the SCO Council of Heads of State that will meet in Qingdao, China in June this year, Norov will take office as SCO Secretary-General on January 1, 219.
He will replace Rashid Alimov, who has served as SCO Secretary-General since January 1, 2016.
Vladimir Norov has served as Director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan since May 5, 2017. Prior to this, he served as Uzbekistan envoy to Belgium. In different years he was the Deputy, First Deputy and Minister of Foreign Affairs, State Adviser to the President and held other posts.
Vladimir Norov, PhD in Law, was born on August 31, 1955 in the city of Bukhara, southern Uzbekistan. In 1972-1976, he studied at and graduated from Bukhara Pedagogical Institute, (Mathematics Department). He then served in the Soviet Army from 1976 through 1977. In 1978-1983, Norov worked in the Department of Interior of Uzbekistan (MVD). In 1983-1985, he studied at and graduated from the Internal Affairs Ministry Academy in Moscow. Then, he continued working for the Department of Interior and in 1988-1990 was a student of the adjunct courses at the Interior Ministry Academy (Moscow) followed by two more years of employment at Department of Interior.
Based in Beijing, the SCO Secretariat is the primary executive body of the organization. It serves to implement organizational decisions and decrees, drafts proposed documents (such as declarations and agendas), functions as a document depository for the organization, arranges specific activities within the SCO framework, and promotes and disseminates information about the SCO.
The Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General. Nominated by the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and approved by the Council of Heads of State, the Secretary-General is appointed from among citizens of the SCO member states on a rotating basis in Russian alphabetical order for a single three-year term with no possibility of extension. Deputy Secretaries-General are nominated by the Council of National Coordinators and approved by the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Officials of the Secretariat are hired from among citizens of the SCO member states on the basis of quotas.
