Ms. Raykhona Khashimova is a Head of Commercial Team at the British Embassy in Uzbekistan where her responsibilities include the promotion of UK-Uzbekistan trade and investment relations, lobbying interests of British companies operating in the country and consulting with British investors on business opportunities in the local market. Prior to joining the British Embassy, from 2009 to 2012 she served as the Head of the Country Office of a Hong Kong-based company that exports commodities from Uzbekistan, and from 2007 to 2008 was a Logistics Analyst at Carlsberg, Uzbekistan, where she was involved in a procurement to launch a new, multimillion-dollar brewery in Uzbekistan. Ms. Khashimova is also a pro-bono consultant to a leading women’s NGO in Uzbekistan, advising on women’s entrepreneurship development. She is currently pursuing her MA in International Business and Management at Westminster International University in Tashkent, and holds a BS in Finance and Economics from Virginia Union University (2006) and a BA in English Language and Literature from Uzbek State University of World Languages (2003).