David Bakradze, a long-time member of his country’s foreign service, took over as Georgia’s ambassador to the United States in December 2016. It’s his second such posting.

Born December 30, 1975 in Tbilisi, Bakradze earned a degree from Tbilsi State University in international economics in 1997 and another in international law in 2001.

Bakradze worked briefly as an insurance agent for Aldagi in 1995-1996 before going to work in the communications office of the Georgian president, Eduard Shevardnadze. The following year, Bakradze moved to the Georgian National Security Council as a counselor in the departments of Information and Analysis, Human Rights and Law Enforcement Institutions. He moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2002, serving as a counselor in his country’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva, before returning to Georgia in 2005 for a stint as head of the First European Division in the ministry. In 2008, he began working as senior counselor to the embassies in Sweden and Finland, serving as chargé d’affaires in Helsinki from 2011 to 2012.

Bakradze was named ambassador to Greece, with additional accreditation to Serbia, in 2012. He returned home in 2014 to become state minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, a post he held until coming to Washington.

Early in his short tenure as ambassador, Bakradze, along with five other ambassadors, has requested U.S. help in stopping Russian interference in the countries’ internal affairs. Bakradze cited Russian broadcasts into Georgia, a former Soviet republic, urging its citizens to oppose Georgia becoming a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Bakradze is married to Anna Matsukashvili. They have a son, Giorgi Tsverava, and two daughters, Liza and Kesaria Bakradze.

-Steve Straehley

To Learn More:

Official Biography

European and Euro-Atlantic Integration (interview with Katya Pinchevskaya and Marit Fosse, International Diplomat)