Born on June 23, 1953. Graduated from Tajik State University in 1975.

Graduated from the Academy of Social Sciences at the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Committee in 1989.

Doctor of political sciences.

Ethnic Tajik. Fluent in Tajik, Russian and English.

1976-82: Held various positions in the Central Committee of the Leninist Young Communist League (LYCL) and the Communist Party of Tajikistan (CPT).

1982-86: Instructor and deputy head of the Agitprop Department of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (ALYCL).

1986-91: First secretary of the LYCL of Tajikistan and member of the ALYCL Central Committee Bureau; leading positions in the CPT Dushanbe City Committee.

1986-94: Deputy of two convocations, chairman of the Committee on Youth Affairs and member of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic.

1991-92: State counselor to the president of the Republic of Tajikistan.

1992-94: Minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan.

1994-2005: Permanent ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan to the UN.

2005-15: Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Tajikistan to the People's Republic of China; permanent ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Since Jan 1, 2016: SCO secretary-general.

At the SCO summit in Ufa on July 10, 2015, Rashid Alimov was appointed SCO secretary-general from Jan 1, 2016 to Dec 31, 2018. He holds the diplomatic rank of the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary.

Author of 13 books and over 50 articles on international relations published in academic journals in China, Kazakhstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

Received the state orders Friendship of Nations and Sharaf, as well as medals and other awards of the Republic of Tajikistan.

Winner of the Silk Road Humanitarian Cooperation international prize and gold medal for special contributions to humanitarian cooperation among SCO member states.

Married with two children.

(HK Edition 11/03/2017 page24)