This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Raşit Meredow" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Raşit Meredow
Meredow in 2022
First Vice President of Turkmenistan
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 February 2007
President	Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow Serdar Berdimuhamedow
Preceded by	Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 July 2001
President	Saparmurat Niyazov Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow Serdar Berdimuhamedow
Preceded by	Batyr Berdiýew
Chairman of the Assembly of Turkmenistan
In office 7 May 2001 – 7 July 2001
Preceded by	Sakhat Muradow
Succeeded by	Redzhepbay Arayow
Personal details
Born	Rashit Ovezgeldyyevich Meredov (1960-05-29) 29 May 1960 (age 64)[citation needed] Ashgabat, Turkmen SSR, Soviet Union (now Turkmenistan)
Political party	Democratic
Children	Kerim Meredov
Alma mater	Moscow State University

Raşit Öwezgeldiýewiç Meredow (Turkmen pronunciation: [ɾɑˈʃɪt ˌøβɛðɡɛldɪˈjɛβɪtʃ mɛɾɛˈdoβ]; born 29 May^{[citation needed]} 1960) is a Turkmen politician and diplomat who has served as Vice President of Turkmenistan since 2007, and Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2001.^[1]

Raşit Meredow was born in Ashgabat on 29 May 1960.^{[citation needed]} His father Öwezgeldi was a Turkmen scientist and lawyer. His mother is an ethnic Azerbaijani.^[2] Meredow's relatives on his mother’s side live in the city of Mary, where she herself spent her childhood before moving to Ashgabat.^[3] Meredow’s sister and close relatives live in Mary, with his sister teaching at a local high school.

In 1977, he entered the Moscow State University department of law. In 1982, he began as a teacher in the department of civil law and civil process of the Turkmen State University. In 1984-1987, he studied as a post-graduate student at the Moscow State University. He holds a master's degree in law. In 1987-1990, he was lecturer, senior teacher in the department of civil law and civil process of the Turkmen State University. In 1990-1991, he was chief consultant, head of sector, head of department in the Ministry of Justice of Turkmenistan. Starting in 1991, he worked as head of law enforcing agencies department of the council for coordination of law enforcing agencies under the President of Turkmenistan. Starting in March 1993, he worked as head of the law department in the office of the President of Turkmenistan. Starting in December 1994, he was chairman of the law committee of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan. Starting in 1996, he was deputy director of the Turkmen National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan.

In May 1999, he was appointed as First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. In December 1999, he was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan. In May 2001, he was elected as Chairman of the Assembly of Turkmenistan.^[4] In July 2001, he was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. Starting in August 2001, he simultaneously performed duties of director of the Turkmen National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan. From 2003 to 2005, he worked as Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, a position from which was dismissed in 2005 for "poor performance" of his duties.^[5][6]

He speaks fluent Turkish,^[7] Russian and English in addition to his native Turkmen. He is currently the longest-serving foreign minister in the world.

• Jubilee Medal "25 years of Turkmenistan's Independence"^[8]
• "For the love of Fatherland" Medal
• "Gayrat" Medal
• "Galkynysh" Order^[9]
• "Dustlik" Order (Uzbekistan, Order of Friendship)^[10]

• Media related to Rashid Meredov at Wikimedia Commons