Abdulaziz Kamilov was appointed ambassador to the United States from Uzbekistan on December 4, 2003. Kamilov was born on November 16, 1947 in the city of Yangiyul, Uzbekistan. He received a PhD in history in 1978 specializing in the history of international relations and foreign policy. He is fluent in Arabic and English.

 

From 1972-1973, Kamilov was a staff member in the Middle East Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, USSR. This was followed by serving as attaché to the USSR Embassy in Lebanon (1973-1976), a fellow at the Academy of Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of USSR (1976-1978), a post-graduate fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Academy of Science of USSR (1978-1980), second secretary at the Embassy of USSR in Syria (1980-1984), first secretary in the Middle East Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of USSR (1984-1988), and senior research fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Academy of Science of USSR (1988-1991).

 

From 1991-1992, Kamilov was a counselor at the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Russian Federation. He then served as vice-chairman of the National Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan (1992-1994), as first deputy minister of foreign affairs (April-August 1994), and as Minister of Foreign Affairs and president of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy until 2003. Before becoming ambassador to the United States, Kamilov served as state advisor to the President of Uzbekistan (March-October 2003).