Ayubkhon Kamalov Appointed Hokim of Namangan City

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Ayubkhon Kamalov has been appointed as the hokim of Namangan city. His candidacy was unanimously approved on October 29 during an extraordinary session of the city Kengash of People’s Deputies, the press service of the Namangan regional hokimiyat said.

The deputies also supported the decision to relieve Anvar Otakhodjaev of his duties as head of the city. He had held this position since December 2023. As previously reported by Gazeta, a criminal case was initiated against him in September on charges of receiving a large bribe.

Prior to this appointment, Ayubkhon Kamalov served as Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, a position he held since December 2020. Born in 1971 in Namangan, he graduated from the Leningrad Agricultural Institute in 1993 and the Namangan Engineering and Pedagogical Institute in 2001.

Kamalov began his career in 1993 as a specialist at the Main Department of Forecasting and Statistics of the Namangan Regional Hokimiyat. From 1994 to 2017, he held various positions within the country’s banking and financial system.

From 2017 to 2019, he served as Executive Director of the State Fund for Entrepreneurship Development under the Cabinet of Ministers, and in 2019–2020, he was the First Deputy Hokim of Namangan Region for Economy and Entrepreneurship. From May to December 2020, he headed the Secretariat for Macroeconomic Analysis, Structural Reforms, Financial and Banking Systems, State Asset Management, Competition Development, Entrepreneurship Support, and Poverty Reduction under the Cabinet of Ministers.

As hokim of Namangan, Ayubkhon Kamalov succeeds Anvar Otakhodjaev, who was detained on suspicion of receiving a large bribe. The former city head had his parliamentary immunity revoked and was placed in custody, and a criminal case has been initiated against him.