TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Islam Karimov, the authoritarian president of Uzbekistan, is reportedly grooming his 33-year-old daughter as his successor.
Karimov must leave office in January after a second term. He has ruled Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, since 1991.
His daughter, Gulnara Karimova, a Harvard alumna nicknamed "The Princess of the Uzbeks," has tried her hand at business, diplomacy, singing and other ventures, with considerable success.
"Gulnara has inherited her father's shrewdness and tough nature," a Tashkent businessman told The Times of London. "The biggest problem for Karimov is how to step down and secure his own safety and safeguard his fortune. He trusts no one outside his family and his daughter fits the bill perfectly."
One sign that the president is thinking about passing the baton to Karimova is her prominence in Uzbek newspapers and on television and radio, the newspaper said.
