Eka Tkeshelashvili, who until now served as General Prosecutor, was appointed as new Foreign Minister, replacing Davit Bakradze.

Tkeshelashvili, 31, served as justice minister before late January when she was appointed as chief prosecutor as a result of the recent major cabinet reshuffle.

“Tomorrow, at the government session, I will formally congratulate her on this new appointment,” Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said on May 5. “Eka [Tkeshelashvili] will have to hold this position in the period of a very tense, active foreign policy, when we will have to neutralize and adequately respond to all those challenges which we are facing.”

It is not yet clear who will replace Tkeshelashvili on the chief prosecutor’s position.

Tkeshelashvili had served as Minister of Justice since September 2007. Before joining the cabinet in September, Tkeshelashvili was the chairperson of the Court of Appeals. She also served as Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Interior Minister. She holds a diploma in international law from Tbilisi State University and an LLM from the University of Notre Dame in the United States.

She was the first-ever female chief prosecutor in Georgia and will be the second female foreign minister after Salome Zourabichvili.

Davit Bakradze, ex-foreign minister, resigned last month to run in the May 21 parliamentary elections. Bakradze became number one in the ruling party’s list after Nino Burjanadze, the parliamentary chairperson, announced on April 21 her withdrawal from the election because of disagreements over the composition of the list.