Valeri Chechelashvili

Valeri Chechelashvili is the Director of the Geopolitical Studies at the Georgian Strategic Analysis Center.

He has been a career diplomat since October 1989. He held various positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia from Second Secretary to Deputy Foreign Minister (1998 – 2000). He was Minister of Finance in 2005 and First Deputy Foreign Minister (2005 – 2007).

He has served as an Ambassador to Ukraine (1994 – 1998), Ambassador to Russian Federation (2004 – 2005), Secretary-General of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (2000 – 2004), and Secretary-General of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM (2007 – 2016). Mr. Chechelashvili has graduated from the Kiev State University, Faculty of International Relations and International Law, Department of International Economic Relations (1983) and completed a Ph.D. in International Economy (1987).

From 2016 he was a Senior Fellow at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies and from 2019 he is visiting professor of Sokhumi State University.
Ambassador Valeri Chechelashvili is the director of the Energy Security Center at the Georgian Strategic Analysis Center.

He was awarded a number of medals and orders. He is the author of a number of articles on diplomacy, regional economic cooperation, and international relations.
He is a member of the European Leadership Network.