Prime Minister of Georgia to Speak at JHU SAIS

Vazha Lordkipanidze, prime minister of Georgia, will speak at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) on Wednesday, 07/7 from 4:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. The event is hosted by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at SAIS.

Lordkipanidze will speak about "Georgia's Development Faces Stormy Waters." Georgia has recently moved even closer to the United States, but has been hit hard by the economic crisis that began last August.

Lordkipanidze, whose formal title of minister of state is equivalent to prime minister, is a sociologist. Even before the collapse of the U.S.S.R., he was deputy minister of health and social security and deputy prime minister. From 1992 to 1995 he was chief of staff to President Shevandnadze. From 1995 to 1998 he held the crucial position of ambassador to Russia and to the CIS. In 1998 he was named state minister.

The event, open to the public and the media, will be held in room 806 of the Rome Building, 1619 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.

For more information, contact Felisa Neuringer Klubes at the SAIS Public Affairs Office at 202.663.5626 or [email protected].