There is no shift in Georgia’s foreign policy course and changes in this respect are “ruled out,” Maia Panjikidze, the Georgian foreign minister, said while commenting on resignation of her deputy Nikoloz Vashakidze.

Vashakidze cited disagreement with “the current foreign policy course and style”; he, however, did not elaborate details.

Vashakidze, who joined the Foreign Ministry in 1996, worked on number of senior posts in recent years including in the National Security Council and Ministry of Defense before becoming first deputy foreign minister in 2010. He retained one of the deputy minister’s posts after the new government came into office following the October 2012 parliamentary elections and became Georgia’s chief negotiator in Geneva talks.

“I do not know what he [Vashakidze] means by that,” Foreign Minister Panjikidze told journalists on January 22. “Change in Georgia’s foreign policy course is ruled out. Georgian foreign policy course is towards European and Euro-Atlantic integration.”

She also said that she had offered Vashakidze to remain in the diplomatic service and to choose from any of the currently vacant ambassadorial posts abroad, but he declined.

First Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani told Maestro TV on January 22, that Vashakidze’s decision to resign was a surprise for him.

“We have not heard any complaints from him over foreign policy course and it was a surprise to a certain extent,” Zalkaliani said.