SIRODJIDDIN ASLOV APPOINTED TO THE UNITED NATIONS

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 001858 SIPDIS SENSITIVE EUR/ACE SA IO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV TI UNGA SUBJECT: SIRODJIDDIN ASLOV APPOINTED TO THE UNITED NATIONS ¶1. (SBU) Sirodjiddin Mukhriddinovich Aslov has been named as Tajikistan's new Permanent Representative to the United Nations. For the last two years Alsov has been Deputy Foreign Minister and a useful and active interlocutor for the Embassy. ¶2. (SBU) The following are notes from his official biography and recent meetings with DCM. ¶3. (SBU) Aslov was born on February 17, 1964 in Kangurt Village of Sovet (Temurmalik) District of Khatlon Region. In 1986 he graduated with Honor from Odessa Hydrometereology Institute and his major was "Agrometereology". In 2001 he graduated from Tashkent State Economic University the Faculty to International Economic Relations. He has finished postgraduate study of Hydrometcenter of USSR in Moscow. ¶4. (SBU) Aslov started his career in 1986 at Tajikistan Hydrometcenter as an Engineer-Agrometereology and then worked as a Chief of Scientific-Technical Development and Standards at the Ministry of Environment Protection of the Republic of Tajikistan, Deputy Chief, Department of Hydrometereology and Control of Environment. ¶5. (SBU) In 1996 he was appointed the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Republic of Tajikistan at the Executive Committee of the International Aral See Foundation (IASF). He worked at this position till 2002 and at the same time he was heading different regional projects in Central Asia. In June 2002 he was appointed the Chairman of Executive Committee of Aral Sea Foundation. ¶6. (SBU) In February 2004 he was appointed the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan and at the same time worked as the Chairman of IASF. He is the author a dozen scientific articles on the issues related to monitoring and management of water resources, the flooding dangers posed by Lake Sarez, ecological problems, hydrometereology and others. Aslov is a national Coordinator of the Republic of Tajikistan at the SCO and has the rank of First Class Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Minister. ¶7. (SBU) As Deputy Minister he has been involved in a wide range of issues and is often a decision-maker on our bilateral issues. His English level is fairly basic, about a 2 according to FSI standards. He is very interested in improving his language skills and the Embassy has provided him with some basic English materials. He has been to several American cities and speaks warmly of the more rural states like Nebraska. Aslov has yet to be won over by New York because of its immensity, traffic, noise and pollution. Aslov is believed to be related to President Rahmonov but we do not know the exact connection. Aslov said, and other MFA counterparts confirm, that the Foreign Minister is in no hurry to replace him, and may leave the post vacant for several months. For the Embassy, we may have to either go to Ismat Nasredinov, Chief of the North American Desk, or the Minister himself to resolve problems. Sirojdin Aslov is 41, married with four kids. He will go to Post first and his family will follow later in December or January. HOAGLAND NNNN