58 Facts About Mikheil Janelidze

Mikheil Janelidze previously served as Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.

Mikheil Janelidze was born on 29 March 1981 in Kutaisi, Georgia.

Mikheil Janelidze's father, Kirile Janelidze, was a lawyer and devoted his whole career to the Prosecutors Office of Georgia.

Kirile Janelidze held positions of Chief Prosecutor of the Imereti Region and Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Tbilisi.

Mikheil Janelidze moved to Tbilisi in 1997 to pursue his graduate studies.

In 2003, Mikheil Janelidze was nominated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia as a candidate for the post-graduate studies at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Federation.

Mikheil Janelidze moved to Moscow, Russia to pursue his post-graduate studies at the faculty of International Law.

In Spring of 2006, Mikheil Janelidze returned to Georgia and continued his career in the private sector.

Mikheil Janelidze held several high managerial positions and worked mostly in the field of business development.

In 2008, Mikheil Janelidze commenced the Dual MBA program of Grenoble Ecole de Management, France and Caucasus School of Business, Georgia.

Mikheil Janelidze graduated from the program with distinction with a specialization in Global Management.

Mikheil Janelidze completed an Executive Program of MIT Sloan School of Management on Artificial Intelligence in 2018.

Mikheil Janelidze took the position of a Head of Foreign Trade and International Economic Relations Department of the Ministry of Economic Development of Georgia in 2009.

Mikheil Janelidze chaired working groups of the different intergovernmental economic commissions.

Mikheil Janelidze was on the government's task-force responsible for the preparation of Georgia for the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area agreement with the European Union.

In 2011, Mikheil Janelidze was awarded with the Order of Honor for his contributions to the foreign trade policy development of Georgia.

In 2011, Mikheil Janelidze was promoted to the position of a Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia and was appointed as a Chief Trade Negotiator of Georgia.

Mikheil Janelidze headed Georgian delegation at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization.

Mikheil Janelidze successfully concluded negotiations with the European Union on the DCFTA and initialled the agreement at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius on 28 November 2013.

Mikheil Janelidze was representing Georgia in negotiations on establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Mikheil Janelidze supervised the construction code drafting process and initiated the process of preparation of the first spatial development plan of Georgia.

Mikheil Janelidze first entered the diplomatic service of Georgia in 2002 as an expert at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, where he worked until 2003.

In September 2015, Mikheil Janelidze returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held the position of the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs before his appointment as a Foreign Minister of Georgia in December 2015.

Mikheil Janelidze co-chaired Democracy and Governance Working Group and People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges Working Groups of the US-Georgia Strategic Partnership Commission.

Mikheil Janelidze pursued diplomacy oriented on resolving the conflict with the Russian Federation by exclusively peaceful means, in accordance with relevant international agreements and with full respect for the fundamental principles of international law.

Mikheil Janelidze worked on activation of all international formats and instruments for addressing issues related to the de-occupation of the Georgian territories by the Russian military forces and human rights violations on the territories.

Mikheil Janelidze was the first foreign minister of Georgia to participate in the debate related to the conflict at the Security Council of the UN since the Russian military invasion in Georgia in 2008.

Mikheil Janelidze was supportive to Geneva International Discussions and Georgia's constructive participation in this format.

The initiative was presented by Mikheil Janelidze and discussed on the side event of the "High-Level meeting on peacebuilding and sustaining peace" organized by the UN.

Mikheil Janelidze continued his active work on the European integration agenda of Georgia in his new capacity.

Mikheil Janelidze coordinated negotiations with the European Union as well as implementation of the EU related reforms by the Government of Georgia.

Mikheil Janelidze signed the Agreement between Georgia and the European Union on Security Procedures for Exchanging and Protecting Classified Information as another step towards the integration with the EU and confirmation that Georgia is a reliable partner to the EU.

Mikheil Janelidze was supportive not only to Georgia's European path but of the whole Eastern European region.

Mikheil Janelidze contributed to the development of the Eastern Partnership program of the EU.

Mikheil Janelidze pushed for more individual approach from the EU towards the integration agendas of the Eastern Partnership countries but at the same time for keeping the platform working for all.

Janelidze in the run-up to Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels, Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze took part in the annual Eastern Partnership ministerial meeting chaired by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Luxembourg on 19 June 2017.

At a meeting of foreign ministers from the European Union Member States and Eastern Partnership countries in Tallinn, Estonia in September 2017, Mikheil Janelidze stated that within the Eastern Partnership, countries enjoy a different pace of development and integration, but it is important that the unity is maintained as all of these countries have shared goals.

Mikheil Janelidze participated in the first NATO-Georgia Commission at a NATO Summit in Warsaw in 2016.

Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze reaffirmed Georgia's determination to achieve NATO membership, as a top foreign policy priority for Georgia.

In March 2016, Mikheil Janelidze visited US and met with the US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Mikheil Janelidze had meetings in US congress and with leading US think tanks.

Mikheil Janelidze was among the first foreign ministers to meet with the new US administration after 2016 US presidential elections.

Mikheil Janelidze took aim to bring the relations with the western European countries to the strategic level, deepen further cooperation with the Central and Eastern European countries and attract more European companies and investors to the Georgian market.

Mikheil Janelidze assessed this visit as a strong support of the Spanish Government to Georgia and welcomed the political decision of Spain to open the embassy in Georgia.

Mikheil Janelidze worked intensively with such traditional supporters of Georgia, its European and Euroatlantic integration, as Baltic and Visegrad countries.

Mikheil Janelidze was awarded with the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his outstanding contributions to fostering relations between Poland and Georgia.

Mikheil Janelidze promoted Southern Gas Corridor, the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline and White Stream Project, to enhance energy cooperation between the Caspian and the Black Sea regions and supply additional energy resources of Caspian Sea to the EU via Black Sea.

Mikheil Janelidze was supporting friendly and enhanced cooperation with Armenia, despite Armenia and Georgia being members of different regional integration formats.

Mikheil Janelidze promoted enhancement of activities of the regional Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM, initiated and led the process of elaboration of a vision for the next years of the organization.

Mikheil Janelidze discussed Georgia's active participation in One belt One road Initiative, signing of free trade agreement between Georgia and China, Georgia's involvement in the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank and other projects with Chairman of the China National Tourism Administration on the sidelines of the 22nd General Assembly of the UN World Tourism Organization.

Mikheil Janelidze promoted enhanced trade-economic cooperation of Georgia with South-East Asia.

Mikheil Janelidze set as a priority to raise the role of Georgia in multilateral organizations.

Mikheil Janelidze hosted and delivered a speech at the 16+ Forum Inaugural Annual Showcase "From Words to Action: Implementing SDG 16+ at the local and national level" held in Tbilisi, Georgia, with 150 representatives from 25 countries.

Mikheil Janelidze announced about the plans to open Georgia's diplomatic museum and present interesting exhibitions from Georgia's diplomatic history to the public.

Mikheil Janelidze delivered a speech at the ceremony underlining the importance of TSU in building Georgian democracy and the need to rethink the current education system to catch up with the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In 2011, Mikheil Janelidze was awarded with the Order of Honor for his contributions to the foreign trade policy development of Georgia by the decree of the President of Georgia.

In 2018, Mikheil Janelidze was awarded with the State Medal for his special contribution to the development of bilateral relations between Georgia and Kazakhstan by the decree of the President of Kazakhstan.

In 2018, Mikheil Janelidze was awarded with the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his outstanding contributions to fostering relations between Poland and Georgia by the decree of the President of Poland.