Salome Samadashvili

Salome Samadashvili joined the Martens Centre as a visiting fellow in November 2013. Prior to that, Samadashvili enjoyed a decade long career in public service in her native country, Georgia. Following the democratic Rose Revolution of 2003, she was elected to be a member of the Parliament of Georgia and the Deputy-Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. In October 2005 she was appointed to represent her country in Brussels as the Head of Georgia’s Mission to the EU and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Belgium and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. She left the Georgian diplomatic service in April 2013.

During her tenure in Brussels, Georgia has successfully negotiated the Association and Free Trade Agreements with the EU, as well as the Visa Facilitation Agreement. From 2002 to 2004, Salome Samadashvili worked for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) as the Parliamentary Program Officer in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. She holds a BA degree in Political Sciences from the Allegheny College, Pennsylvania, USA, as well as an LL.M degree in Comparative Constitutional Law from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary and a Masters in Public Policy from the American University, Washington DC. She is a recipient of the Presidential Decoration of Splendour for her outstanding service to Georgia.

Following her departure from Brussels in December 2015, Samadashvili served a six months term as an interim Governance Director for Libya with the National Democratic Institute. In Summer 2016 she returned to Georgia. Currently she is a Director of the Department of International Relations and Political Sciences at the University of Georgia, as well as the Executive Director of the Georgian NGO Center for Strategic Communication and Democracy and Ireland-based public affairs consultancy Samadashvili International Consultants. She is also active in Georgian politics and currently sits as a member of the Georgian Parliament.