H.E. Giorgi Baramidze, Vice Prime Minister and State Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Republic of Georgia
Giorgi Baramidze was born in 1968 in Tbilisi. He graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Georgia, majoring in chemical technology. Soon after graduating, he began work with the Committee of Human Rights and National Minorities as a Chief of Department. Vice Prime Minister Baramidze later helped to establish the Georgian Green Party in 1990 and remains active on the Green Party’s political committee.
Vice Prime Minister Baramidze actively participated in the military operations in Abkhazia that aimed to restore the territorial integrity of Georgia. During this conflict, he coordinated the delivery of humanitarian aid, the evacuation of peaceful populations from the occupied territories, and the liberation of Georgian hostages.
In 1992, Vice Prime Minister Baramidze was elected a Member of Parliament. He worked as a Secretary for the Commission of Human Rights and National Minorities and was also a member of the State Coordination Commission of Georgia’s participation in NATO Partnership for Peace Program (PFP).
In 1995, Vice Prime Minister Baramidze graduated from the George C. Marshall Center for European Security Studies and Defence Economics in Garmisch, Germany.
He is one of the founders of the Citizen’s Union of Georgia (CUG) and was Deputy Chairman of the Union. From 1995 to 1996 he was Acting Secretary-General of the CUG.
In 1995, he was elected as a Member of Parliament of Georgia from the Didube district of Tbilisi. He was re-elected in 1999 and 2003. In 1996, Vice Prime Minister Baramidze was elected as the Chairman of the Investigation Commission of the Parliamentary Anti-Corruption Committee. He was also elected as a Chairman of the parliamentary fraction of the CUG in 1996.
In 1997, Vice Prime Minister Baramidze initiated a Georgian Government-UNDP joint program on a “Corruption Investigation Center,” and became its first director. He has served as an Associate Researcher at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy of Georgetown University and worked in the US Senate Committee on Armed Forces with Senator Carl Levin.
In 2002, Vice Prime Minister Baramidze was elected as the Chairman of the Faction of United Democrats of the Parliament of Georgia. In 2003, he was appointed to the position of Minister of Internal Affairs, and in 2004 to the position of Minister of Defense of Georgia.
Vice Prime Minister Baramidze was appointed to the position of State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration in 2005 and continues to hold the position today. He was appointed Vice Prime Minister in 2006.
Giorgi Baramidze speaks several foreign languages.
He is married and has one daughter.
