Aleksandre Chikvaidze

Aleksandre Chikvaidze (Georgian: ალექსანდრე ჩიკვაიძე; 19 January 1932 – 8 May 2012) was a Soviet and Georgian statesman and diplomat. Chikvaidze was appointed Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of independent Georgia by Acting Prime Minister Tengiz Sigua in February 1992 and went on to serve in Eduard Shevardnadze's government, after the latter's return to Georgia in March 1992, until December 1995.

During his tenure as foreign minister, Chikvaidze ushered Georgia into the United Nations as its 179th member, on 31 July 1992, and managed a wave of diplomatic recognition of Georgia, the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations between Georgia and the countries of the world, and of the integration of Georgia into most international organizations. Chikvaidze undertook strenuous efforts to place the problems of Georgia's internal conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, that were raging at the time, on the international agenda, of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe and to have the United Nations Security Council ‘seized of the matter,’ while working closely with the Russian government to keep it engaged in helping Georgia find a solution to these conflicts. Chikvaidze opened Georgia's relationship with NATO by signing the Partnership for Peace Framework Document in March 1994. After leaving the foreign minister post, Chikvaidze served as Georgian ambassador to Greece, to the Holy See, to Switzerland and as Permanent Representative of Georgia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, from 1996 to 2005. He retired from active diplomatic service in June 2005, almost two years into the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili.

Early life and family

Chikvaidze was born on 19 January 1932, in Tbilisi, the capital of what was then the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. He was the only child of Tamar Chikvaidze (née Kobiashvili), an economist and David Chikvaidze, a highly regarded performer of Georgian national choreography, in later years, serving as deputy director of the Georgian philharmonic.

Chikvaidze's family was quite prestigious; his great uncle, Kalistrate Chikvaidze, was a well-known lawyer, political figure and philanthropist in Georgia's second largest city Kutaisi at the turn of the twentieth century.