OBITUARY

Shalva Pichkhadze, Chairman of the NGO Georgia For NATO, has died at the age of 55. Georgian political science has lost a high ranking professional, a real patriot and a man of extreme competence and brilliant analytical ability.

Mr. Pichkhadze graduated from the Ivane Javakhishvili State University, majoring in the field of International Relations, in 1984. He was also a graduate of the NATO Defence College in Rome.

From 1985 he worked in various positions in state institutions. In 1992 he joined the Personal Staff of the Head of State of Georgia. In 1996 he joined the State Chancellery of the President of Georgia. In 2002 he became Head of the International Relations Department at the State Chancellery and from 2004-2005 he was foreign policy expert for broadcasting company Mze. In 2005 he worked in Parliament as a senior political advisor of the Right Opposition Faction. Mr. Pichkhadze had been Chairman of Georgia For NATO since 2006 and had also been granted the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

During his career Mr. Pichkhadze participated in several important negotiation processes, including the Geneva Negotiations on the Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Conflict in Abkhazia, the Sochi Negotiations on the Voluntary Return of Refugees and IDPs to Abkhazia and the regular informal meetings of Georgian and Abkhaz Officials (Schleining Process, Austria–Germany) organised by Conciliation Resources and the Berghof Foundation. At present Mr. Pichkhadze was involved in the CITpax Initiative for the Promotion of a Dialogue Process and Conflict Resolution in Southern Caucasus funded by the European Commission.

Mr. Pichkhadze always expressed original opinions on different issues in the country and was unbiased, objective and principled. His death is a great loss not only for his family but for Georgian society. He leaves a wife and a small son and daughter.