Salomé ZOURABICHVILI

Bio

Salome Zourabichvili is the fifth President of Georgia, in office since December 2018. She is the first woman to be elected as Georgia's president. Zourabichvili was born in Paris, France into a family of Georgian political refugees. She joined the French diplomatic service in the 1970s and over three decades went on to occupy a variety of increasingly senior diplomatic positions in Paris, New York, Rome, Washington, N'Djamena, and Brussels. From 2003 to 2004, she served as the Ambassador of France to Georgia. In 2004, by mutual agreement between the presidents of France and Georgia, she became the Foreign Minister of Georgia. During her tenure at the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she conducted foreign policy of Georgia's new pro-Western orientation, negotiating the first steps of Georgia's integration into the European Union and NATO. Under her leadership, Tbilisi signs several agreements with the North Atlantic Alliance and negotiates the EU-Georgia Action Plan. In 2005 she successfully negotiated a treaty that led to the withdrawal of Russian forces from the undisputed parts of the Georgian mainland. In 2006 Zourabichvili founded The Way of Georgia political party, which she led until 2010. From 2010 till 2015 she led the United Nations Security Council monitoring group on sanctions against Iran.

Ultimately, she was elected to the Georgian Parliament in 2016 as an independent deputy. In 2018 Zourabichvili was elected as the fifth president of Georgia.  One of her main goals remains Georgia's integration into the EU and NATO. She became the architect of the Petra Declaration, which attempted to unify the efforts of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova in this direction. In response to the political crisis, Salome Zourabichvili announced a process to "find the way to reach a common understanding of recent history, to help heal the pains of the past and to move forward". This process, which is called the National Accord, was inaugurated on December 16, 2021, during a reception dedicated to political parties at the Orbeliani Palace. Salome Zourabichvili is a strong supporter of her country's EU membership, a priority she cited as president-elect in November 2018.