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The News in Brief

Monday, August 5
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze



Former head of president’s administration appointed Georgia’s new ambassador to Israel

The former head of the administration of President Salome Zurabishvili Lasha Zhvania has been appointed as Georgia’s new ambassador to Israel.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry reports that Zhvania has “huge experience in diplomacy,

“Since 1995, he has held various positions in Georgian diplomatic service:

In 2004 he was the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister. In 2005-2008 – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the Republic of Cyprus. Earlier, he served as the third secretary at the Department of South and East Asia division of the Foreign Ministry,” the Ministry said.

As for Zhvania’s experience of working in state posts, from December 2018 to May 2019 he served as Head of Administration of the President of Georgia.

In 2008-2009, he was the Minister of Economic Development of Georgia [under the United National Movement leadership].

In 2002-2003, he was Deputy Minister of Finance of Georgia.

Zhvania released the information himself about his quitting the president’s administration in several months, saying that he was returning to his previous work at the Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

“At the time when I assumed the office at the Presidency, Patriarch Ilia II satisfied the President’s request to assign me to the President’s administration, but did not release me from the Charity Foundation of the Patriarchate,” he explained.

The opposition members stated that the real reason behind the leave was the “complicated character” of Zurtabishvili.

The president’s administration stated that there was a “beforehand deal” with Zhvania on short-term employment, and he [Zhvania] could leave “when he ensured positive changes and order in the administration.”

One of the most painful issues between Georgia and Israel, for now, is the illegal migration of Georgian citizens.