Ekaterine "Eka" Tkeshelashvili ( ka, ეკატერინე "ეკა" ტყეშელაშვილი; born May 23, 1977) is a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

jurist and politician, formerly serving as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

, Secretary of the National Security Council, and Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for Reintegration of Georgia under President

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil Saakashvili ( ka, მიხეილ სააკაშვილი ; uk, Міхеіл Саакашвілі ; born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist.

Biography

Tkeshelashvili was born on May 23, 1977 in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, the capital of what was then

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

(now

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

). She graduated from the Faculty of International Law and International Relations at Tbilisi State University in 1999 and worked as a lawyer for the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

, Georgia, and then for IRIS Georgia, a Tbilisi office of the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

’s Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector. From October 9, 1997 until September 10, 1999, she was the Chief Specialist Centre for Foreign Policy Research and Analysis in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. From June 1 to November 1, 2001, Tkeshelashvili was a lawyer at Lawyers' Committee of Human Rights in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, from December 2002 until May 2003, interned at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in

the Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. She is a Senior Network Member at the

European Leadership Network European Leadership Network (ELN) is a pan-European think-tank focusing on European foreign, defence and security issues based in London, United Kingdom. The ELN's Director is Sir Adam Thomson, former UK Permanent Representative to NATO. Histo ...

(ELN).

Political career

Tkeshelashvili was appointed to her first government post as Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia on February 1, 2004. She was then appointed Deputy Minister of Interior on September 1, 2005 and then became a Chairperson of the Tbilisi

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

from May 1, 2006 to August 1, 2007. She served as Minister of Justice of Georgia from August 2007 to January 2008, and as Prosecutor General of Georgia from January to May 2008. On May 5, 2008 she was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, a post she held until December 5, 2008. Her appointment coincided with Georgia's increasingly tense relations with its northern neighbor

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and

South Ossetia South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...

, and Georgia's aspiration to join

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. During her tenure in this position, she vowed to pursue active diplomacy to find a peaceful solution to all existing problems. Tkeshelashvili was replaced as Minister of Foreign Affairs by

Grigol Vashadze Grigol Vashadze ( ka, გრიგოლ ვაშაძე, also transliterated as Gregory Vashadze) (born July 19, 1958) is a Georgian politician, diplomat and a former member of the Cabinet of Georgia in the capacity of the Minister for Cultur ...

on December 5, 2008, in a cabinet shuffle. Later in December, she was appointed to head the National Security Council. From 2010 to 2012, she was State Minister for Reintegration. From 2017 Tkeshelashvili is Head of EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine. She also teaches at Civil and Political School in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

, and in the Black Sea University in Tbilisi.

Personal life

Tkeshelashvili is married and has two children. In addition to her native

, she speaks

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, and French.Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili biography
, Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reintegration, Retrieved January 1, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tkeshelashvili, Ekaterine Women government ministers of Georgia (country) 1977 births Living people Female foreign ministers Foreign Ministers of Georgia Justice ministers of Georgia Deputy Prime Ministers of Georgia Attorneys general Lawyers from Tbilisi Politicians from Tbilisi Tbilisi State University alumni 21st-century politicians from Georgia (country) 21st-century women politicians from Georgia (country)