Giorgi Kvirikashvili

Giorgi Kvirikashvili გიორგი კვირიკაშვილი
Giorgi Kvirikashvili at a press conference in 2014.
Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development
Incumbent
Assumed office October 25, 2012
Prime Minister	Bidzina Ivanishvili Irakli Garibashvili
Preceded by	Vera Kobalia
Vice Prime Minister
Incumbent
Assumed office July 26, 2013
Prime Minister	Bidzina Ivanishvili Irakli Garibashvili
Preceded by	Giorgi Margvelashvili
Personal details
Born	(1967-07-20) 20 July 1967 Tbilisi, Georgian SSR
Alma mater	Tbilisi State Medical University Tbilisi State University University of Illinois

Giorgi Kvirikashvili (Georgian: გიორგი კვირიკაშვილი; born July 20, 1967) is a Georgian politician who has served as Georgia's Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development since October 25, 2012, and Vice Prime Minister since July 26, 2013.

Education

Born in Tbilisi, Kvirikashvili went through the compulsory military service in the Soviet army from 1986 to 1988. He graduated from the Tbilisi State Medical University with a degree in Internal Medicine in 1991 and then from the Tbilisi State University with a degree in Economics in 1995. In 1998, he obtained a master's degree in finances from the University of Illinois.^[1]

Career

Kvirikashvili worked as an executive for various banks in Georgia from 1993 to 1999 and as a deputy head of fiscal and monetary office at the State Chancellery of the President of Georgia in 1999. From 1999 to 2004, he was member of the Parliament of Georgia on the ticket of New Rights party.^[2] After the Rose Revolution swept Mikheil Saakashvili to the presidency of Georgia, Kvirikashvili returned to his businesses. From 2006 to 2011, he was Director General of Cartu Bank, owned by the multi-billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili. With Ivanishvili's coming in politics and the victory of his Georgian Dream coalition over Saakashvili's United National Movement in the October 2012 parliamentary election, Kvirikashvili was appointed Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia in the cabinet of Bidzina Ivanishvili in October 2012. He additionally assumed the office of Vice Prime Minister in July 2013. He retained both these positions in the succeeding cabinet of Irakli Garibashvili, Ivanishvili's choice as his successor, in November 2013.^[1][3]

References