Georgia’s New Ambassador to U.S. Takes Office

Archil Gegeshidze, Georgia’s new ambassador to the United States, presented his credentials to President Barack Obama on April 15.

“Mr. Ambassador, it is very important for us to deepen the relationship with Georgia and I look forward to cooperate with you in this matter,” President Obama said at the ceremony of presenting credentials, according to the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi.

Ambassador Gegeshidze said: “Georgia has always been grateful to American people, who always were generous towards Georgia. The fact that Georgia exists as a democratic and free state, is primarily due to the support of American people and the guidance of your government and we are thankful for that.”

Gegeshidze, who is Georgia’s seventh ambassador to the U.S., was a senior fellow at the Tbilisi-based think-tank Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS) before taking ambassadorial post.

In 1990s he served as head of the foreign policy analysis department at the president’s office and was President Shevardnadze’s senior foreign policy advisor. Gegeshidze holds a diplomatic rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary; he, however, has never before served at any diplomatic post. Before joining GFSIS, Gegeshidze was a Fulbright scholar at the Stanford University.

Gegeshidze has replaced on the post of ambassador in Washington Temur Yakobashvili, who before joining President Saakashvili’s government in early 2008, served as an executive vice-president of GFSIS.

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