The President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev has announced the appointment of the country's new Minister of Energy as Zhurabek Tursunpulatovich Mirzamahmudov who is currently the deputy prime minister for the Development of Fuel, Energy and Chemical Industries.
Mirzamahmudov will continue to hold the post of deputy prime minister for the department and has joined the Energy Ministry's office with effect from September 29, 2022. He replaces the previous incumbent Alisher Sultanov who has voluntarily stepped down from the role due to health reasons, according to a statement released.
The new Energy Minister was previously working with state-owned oil company Uzbekneftegaz JSC between 2006 to 2012 and went on to become the country's deputy minister of Economy between 2012 and 2014. He also headed the Atomic Energy Development Agency (Uzatom) as its general director since 2018 and was previously also the country's 1st deputy energy minister from 2019 to 2020.
A graduate from the University of Alabama, US and having studied at the Tashkent Institute of Chemical Technology, Mirzamahmudov will continue to expand the country's energy diversification in his current role.
The country aims to install 7 GW solar and 5 GW wind energy capacity by 2030 under its energy expansion plans.