Deputy Foreign Minister, Tamar Beruchashvili, has revised earlier decision to step down and after a meeting with PM Irakli Garibashvili decided to remain on the post.

When Maia Panjikidze announced about resignation from the foreign minister’s post on November 5 after defense minister Irakli Alasania was sacked, deputy foreign ministers also followed suit.

Beruchashvili said on November 5 that the Georgia’s "European choice is under threat." On November 6 she said that Georgia’s “European integration is irreversible.”

“I had a detailed conversation with the Prime Minister after which I decided to stay on the post. I am sure that Georgia’s European integration is an irreversible process and I think that it is my duty to use my experience and competence for this process,” said Beruchashvili, a career diplomat with over two decades of experience of working on European affairs.
 
On November 6 Beruchashvili was also present at a meeting between PM Garibashvili and Tbilisi-based foreign diplomats during which the PM reiterated that government’s foreign policy remains unchanged. On November 7 Beruchashvili plans a meeting with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, in Tbilisi.

Some Georgian media sources speculate that the PM may name Beruchashvili as the state minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration to replace Alexi Petriashvili, who also stepped down after firing of Alasania. Beruchashvili has once already held this posit in 2004. 

Earlier on November 6 PM Garibashvili said that all but one deputy foreign ministers are remaining on their posts and praised them for this decision. Davit Zalkaliani, who was Georgia’s chief negotiator in the Geneva talks, resigned from the post of first deputy foreign minister.

Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Jalagania, who is currently visiting Cuba, said that he remains on the post for now.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s ambassador to NATO, Levan Dolidze, said he plans to resign, but only after PM Garibashvili’s visit to Brussels, which is planned for mid-November. Levan Dolidze is brother of MP Victor Dolidze, one of the leading figures in Irakli Alasania’s Free Democrats party, who chairs parliamentary committee for European integration issues.