The Hon. Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili
Former Vice Prime Minister of Georgia, State Minister for Reintegration; Former Foreign Minister
Biography
Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili is a renowned Georgian jurist and politician. She has previously served as Minister of Justice, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of the National Security Council, and Prime Minister and State Minister for Reintegration of Georgia.Ms. Tkeshelashvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgia and completed her university studies at the Faculty of International Law and International Relations of Tbilisi State University in 1999. Following graduation, she trained as a lawyer working for the International Committee of the Red Cross and later for IRIS Georgia. From 1997-1999, she was appointed as Chief Specialist at the Center for Foreign Policy Research and Analysis, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. From 2002-2003, Ms. Tkeshelashvili also worked as a lawyer at Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights in New York, and later had the unique opportunity to intern at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands.
In 2004, Ms. Tkeshelashvili was appointed to her first government post as Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia. In 2005, she became Deputy Minister of Interior and was later appointed as Chairperson of the Tbilisi Court of Appeals from May 2006 until August 2007. During her tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs, she sought to pursue active diplomacy to find peaceful and effective solutions to existing problems including Georgia’s tense relations with neighboring Russia at the time.
As Deputy Minister and State Minister for Reintegration, Ms. Tkeshelashvili participated in several bilateral meetings to discuss Georgia’s strategy to establish better relations and promote interaction among divided populations. In 2010, she visited the IISS to discuss Georgia’s “State Strategy on Occupied Territories: Engagement through Cooperation.” Throughout her political career, Ms. Tkeshelashvili has worked consistently to promote Georgia’s reconciliation efforts in bringing communities together, and has received immense support for her work from the international arena.
