Davit Zalkaliani has been appointed as First Deputy Foreign Minister, fourteen months after he stepped down from the same post.
Zalkaliani, career diplomat, was the member of the Free Democrats (FD) party and served as first deputy foreign minister from late October 2012 before his resignation in November 2014, when FD party quit the Georgian Dream ruling coalition and went into opposition. Zalkaliani, who was the member of FD opposition party’s governing body, quit the FD in October, 2015, remaining on good terms with party leadership, who have reacted positively on the news of Zalkaliani’s reappointment as deputy foreign minister. When resigning from deputy foreign minister’s post in November 2014, like his then fellow party members, Zalkaliani too cited concerns over Georgia’s foreign policy course. But now he says that those concerns have been laid to rest since then.
“The recent changes in the country represent a serious step towards country’s democratic development, and statements made by [new] Prime Minister [Giorgi Kvirikashvili]… as well as serious steps made in respect of foreign policy strengthens my belief that our country’s European and Euro-Atlantic course is irreversible,” Zalkaliani told the Georgian public broadcaster on January 7.
Also on January 8, the PM appointed Zviad Gonadze as deputy foreign minister. Gonadze has served as head of the State Service Bureau since late 2012.
Four other deputy foreign ministers – Davit Dondua, Davit Jalagania, Gigi Gigiadze and Khatuna Totladze, have retained their posts.
