Lasha Zhvania (born October 14, 1973 in Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

, Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

) is a Georgian politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

, the Minister for Economic Development from November 2008 till August 2009 and an ex-Parliament of Georgia

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

. A lawyer by education specializing in international law, he has served in the posts of Consul in Israel, Deputy-Minister of Finance, Deputy-Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the State of Israel and the Republic of Cyprus, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Georgia.

Early life and career

Lasha Zhvania was born and raised in Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

, Georgian SSR. He was educated at Tbilisi school No 1 (1979–1990), Faculty of International Law and International Relations of the Tbilisi State University

Tbilisi State University

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University , better known as Tbilisi State University , is a university established on 8 February 1918 in Tbilisi, Georgia. TSU is the oldest university in the whole Caucasus region...

 (1990–1995), PHD study on International Humanitarian and Refugee Law

Refugee law

Refugee law is the branch of international law which deals with the rights and protection of refugees. It is related to, but distinct from, international human rights law and international humanitarian law, which deal respectively with human rights in general, and the conduct of war in...

 at the Department for International Law of the Tbilisi State University (1995–1998). Apart from numerous high-profile government positions Zhvania has been actively involved in various educational Programmes attending the CPDS - Courses for Political and Diplomatic Studies in UK's Leeds University, in 1995, and Refugee and IDP International Law Programme at Birmingham University in UK, in 1998.

In addition to his native Georgian, he speaks English, Hebrew, Russian and Greek. Zhvania was elected to the Parliament on May 21, 2008. His appointment as Chairman for Foreign Relations Committee on 14 June 2008 coincided with Georgia’s increasingly tense relations with its northern neighbor Russia and Occupation by Russian Federation of Georgian regions - Abkhazia

Abkhazia

Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...

 and South Ossetia

South Ossetia

South Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....

, and Georgia’s aspiration to join NATO.

He is married to Tea Kiknavelidze and they have three children - Anna, Sulkhan-Irineos and Helen.