President Margvelashvili appointed on November 21 Georgian Dream lawmaker Irina Imerlishvili as secretary of National Security Council (NSC).

Imerlishvili was parliament staffer from 1993 till 2000, when she was appointed as deputy justice minister. She served as deputy minister till 2003, which also included a period when Justice Minister was Mikheil Saakashvili in 2000-2001.

In 2006 Imerlishvili joined the Republican Party, which is now part of the GD coalition. She became a lawmaker in October, 2012 through GD coalition’s party-list, where she was registered as a member of Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party member.

With her appointment as NSC secretary, Imerlishvili now has to quit the Parliament where she holds the post of chairperson of the committee for procedures and rules. GD lawmaker Giorgi Kakhiani is expected to replace her as chair of this parliamentary committee.

Imerlishvili has replaced on NSC secretary position Giga Bokeria, who held the post since November 2010 and who stepped down a day before Giorgi Margvelashvili was sworn-in as new president on November 17.

In October Parliament passed legislative amendments cutting powers of NSC secretary in line with the new constitution. Amendments went into force upon inauguration of new president. Secretary of NSC, who is also president’s national security advisor, has no longer the authority to coordinate crisis management measures in situations posing threat to the national security, according to legislative amendments.

Also on November 21, Margvelashvili appointed Vano Matchavariani as his foreign policy adviser.

On November 18, Margvelashvili appointed Lasha Abashidze as chief of president’s administration. Abashidze was Margvelashvili’s election campaign fund manager and was in charge of finances. Abashidze, who holds MA in public administration from the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, served as chief of operations at the state-owned Georgian Railway in 2007-2010.