David Zalkaliani

David Zalkaliani

David Zalkaliani ( Georgian დავით ზალკალიანი ; born February 27, 1968 in Tbilisi ) has been Georgian Foreign Minister since June 21, 2018 . He is a career diplomat.

Career

In 1992, shortly after Georgia regained independence, David Zalkaliani took up his diplomatic work as an attaché in the Department of International Organizations of the Georgian Foreign Ministry and rose to the position of deputy head of department within the next three years until 1995. It was an important challenge to establish Georgia in international organizations and to participate in their activities. At that time, Georgia intensified its cooperation with the European Union , which recognized Georgia as an independent state in 1992. Cooperation between Georgia and the EU has mainly focused on humanitarian and technical issues, in which David Zalkaliani was involved.

From 1996 to 2000 David Zalkaliani continued his diplomatic work as counselor in the Georgian embassy in Austria . Zalkaliani was actively involved in the negotiation process of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, as well as in the OSCE summits in Budapest in 1994, Lisbon in 1996 and in Istanbul in 1999. David Zalkaliani took part in the negotiations on the withdrawal of Russian military from Georgia. During his time in the Georgian embassy in Austria, the embassy was headed by the Georgian diplomat Levan Mikeladze , with whom Zalkaliani would later go into politics.

In the years 2000–2001, David Zalkaliani initially continued his career in the Department of European Affairs with the rank of Councilor. His area of ​​work included deepening bilateral relations with European countries. In the years 2001–2002 Zalkaliani returned to Vienna, where he took up the post of Deputy Permanent Representative of Georgia.

2002-2004 David Zalkaliani continued his activity as a Counselor of the first degree in the Georgian Embassy in the US continues, which for the time Canada and Mexico was responsible. His tenure in the United States is linked to increasing US defense aid to Georgia.

After his diplomatic mission in the US Zalkaliani was appointed Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador in Georgia Uzbekistan and Tajikistan appointed. During this time the bilateral relations between the countries deepened in political and economic terms. In 2007, Zalkaliani took up the post of Head of Department for Global Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after which he served as the Ministry's Special Representative for a year. In 2008, Zalkaliani was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Belarus .

David Zalkaliani left the post of ambassador in 2009 and joined the political processes in Georgia with his colleagues. He took an active part in the founding of the Free Democrats Party , which won the parliamentary elections on October 1, 2012 as part of the grand Georgian Dream coalition . The Free Democrats Group was formed in the Georgian Parliament . Zalkaliani was appointed Georgia's first Deputy Foreign Minister.

Since his appointment as Georgia's first Deputy Foreign Minister, David Zalkaliani has been actively involved in the preparation of the Association Agreement between Georgia and the European Union, among other important processes. As the official representative of the Georgian side, he led the negotiations for Georgia. After the successful conclusion of the negotiations, a historically significant agreement - the Association Agreement between Georgia and the European Union - was signed on June 27, 2014, which includes the so-called Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) and provides specific mechanisms for rapprochement with the EU . From 2012 to 2014, Zalkaliani was the negotiator at the International Geneva Talks and co-chair of the working groups of the US-Georgia Strategic Partnership Charter.

In 2015 David Zalkaliani left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and took up a position as General Director of the newly established Levan Mikeladze Foundation. During his tenure at the foundation, his responsibilities included researching political science and advocacy projects, improving career opportunities for diplomats, and conducting academic and public discussions on Georgia's foreign policy priorities.

In 2016–2018, David Zalkaliani took up the post of first Deputy Foreign Minister again and was finally appointed Foreign Minister of Georgia on June 21, 2018.

education

In 1992 David Zalkaliani graduated from Ivane Javakhishvili University with a major in international law. He speaks English and Russian.

family

He is married and has two children.

Web links

Commons : David Zalkaliani  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• resume

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Steffen Dobbert: asylum centers: "That was not discussed with us Georgians" . In: The time . July 5, 2018, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed January 15, 2020]).
2. ↑ David Zalkaliani Appointed First Deputy Foreign Minister. Retrieved January 15, 2020 .