Georgian Foreign Minister Supports Japaridze's Candidacy for Post of Ambassador to Great Britain

Tbilisi. Foreign Minister of Georgia Maia Panjikidze hopes
that representative of the parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee Teo
Japaridze will become the country's ambassador to Great Britain.

President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose
powers expired on November 17, did not sign the decree on appointing
ambassadors to some countries and Japaridze was among them. Saakashvili did not
sign it because  of discord between him
and the Foreign Ministry concerning candidates for posts of heads  of diplomatic missions.

Japaridze was not in the list of
candidates for ambassadors' posts, which was submitted to new President of
Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili by the Foreign Ministry for signing, as Japaridze
was not in Georgia last time.

"During last time Tedo Japaridze was
not in Georgia. He stated earlier that he did not want to be the ambassador to
Great Britain any longer. It was senseless to activate that issue as the former
President would not have signed  the
decree. Consideration of this issue has been suspended for a timed being and I
hope Tedo Japaridze will hold the post of the ambassador to Great
Britain", Panjikidze stated on Wednesday, November 27.

According to the minister, she has already
talked to Japaridze, who will hold consultations with the parliamentary
majority's representatives.

In different years Japaridze was the
Georgian Ambassador to the USA, held a post of the Secretary of the National
Security Council, in 2004-2010 he was deputy Director of the Black Sea Research
Center at BSEC, at a certain period he was a Co-Director of the Energy Security
Research Center at Azerbaijani Diplomatic Academy. In December 2011 he returned
to Georgia and joined the Georgian Dream coalition, which came to power in
October 2012.