Irakli Beraia
Irakli Beraia | |
|---|---|
ირაკლი ბერაია | |
 | |
| Head of the Georgian Intelligence Service | |
| Assumed office 5 April 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Irakli Kobakhidze |
| Preceded by | Shalva Lomidze |
| Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of the Parliament of Georgia | |
| In office 11 December 2020 – 5 April 2024 | |
| Deputy | Alexandre Tabatadze Teona Akubardia Tengiz Sharmanashvili |
| Preceded by | Irakli Sesiashvili |
| Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Georgia | |
| In office 26 November 2019 – 11 December 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Sophie Katsarava |
| Succeeded by | Nikoloz Samkharadze |
| Member of the Parliament of Georgia | |
| In office 18 November 2016 – 5 April 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Guram Misablishvili |
| Succeeded by | Incorporated in the 26th District (MP: Irakli Khakhubia) |
| Constituency | 63rd Parliamentary District |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 October 1978 Senaki |
| Political party | Georgian Dream |
| Education | Diplomatic Academy of Georgia University of Westminster |
Irakli Beraia has served as the Chief of the Georgian Intelligence Service since April 5, 2024. He previously served as the Chair of Defence and Security Committee of the Georgian Parliament as well as the Ex-Officio Chair of the Parliamentary Group of Trust (the Select Group overseeing top secret activities of Defence and Security institutions), as well as the Head of the Georgian Parliamentary Delegation in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from 2020 to 2024. His previous parliamentary positions were the Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee (2019–2020), the Chair of the Parliamentary Commission on De-occupation and Restoration of Territorial Integrity (2019–2020), and the First Deputy Chair of Defence and Security Committee (2016–2019).
When in politics, he was one of the most prominent pro-Western Georgian politicians, strongly advocating Georgia’s accession to NATO and the EU, as well as deepening the defence and security partnership with the United States and other NATO allies. After being elected to Parliament in 2016, he was representing the Georgian legislature at the Security Working Group meetings (within the framework of the US-Georgia Charter on the Strategic Partnership) held in Washington, D.C. He chaired parliamentary friendship groups with Belgium, Romania, Panama, Costa Rica, and Singapore.
Early life and education[edit]
Irakli Beraia was born on October 26, 1978, in Senaki (then-Soviet Mikha Tskhakaia), a town in western Georgia. His mother was a doctor, the chief pediatrician, and the Head of the Children's Hospital. His father - engineer, Director of the carpet production plant, one of the largest production facilities in Georgia. In 1995, he graduated from Blackfoot High School in Idaho, United States. In 1998, Beraia graduated from the Georgian Diplomatic Academy, and in 2006 received Master’s Degree in Diplomatic Studies from the University of Westminster in London.
Early career[edit]
In 1999, Irakli Beraia joined the Georgian Red Cross Society as the Community Development Program Coordinator (responsible for 10 collective centres) for Western Georgia, funded by USAID and the Norwegian Government. Being one of the most successful development programs in Georgia at that time, with a significant impact on the lives of internally displaced persons (IDPs), its components included: Community Rooms; Agriculture; Skills development and Income Generation.
In 2001, Irakli Beraia was offered the position of Regional Field Officer at the Georgian Delegation of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. From 2002 through 2004, he worked at Xylotrans LLC as an assistant to the Director General for few months and later as Director of Forests/Raw Materials Department. The company, founded by Swiss and Greek Entrepreneurs, through the first major foreign direct investment (FDI) in timber business in Georgia, was the largest in the field and the first to introduce a responsible and sustainable forestry approach in the country.
Prior to moving to London for his studies in 2005, Beraia briefly worked as an Invited Specialist at the Parliament of Georgia.
After returning from the UK in April 2007, he was appointed through a merit-based selection as the Director of the Georgian National Investment Agency at the Ministry of Economic Development. After having served a little more than a month, he resigned. The reason for the resignation was the pressure from his supervisors to sign multi-million-dollar contract with a foreign company in breach of Georgian legislation, which he refused to do. Before his resignation, Irakli Beraia wrote a detailed report to the then-Economy Minister explaining the reasons for his refusal to sign the contract.
Soon after his resignation from the Ministry, Irakli Beraia joined a private company supplying the Georgian mining and construction industries with special heavy equipment and spare parts. He remained in the private sector until 2012.
Government career[edit]
After businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili entered politics, Irakli Beraia joined the Georgian Dream Party as a founding member. During the 2012 parliamentary election campaign, he worked at the Georgian Dream Head Office as the Regional Coordinator for 8 municipalities in Western Georgia.
After the Party gained victory in the 2012 elections, Beraia became Head of the Reforms and Development Department at the Ministry of Interior, where he worked until August 2015. His name is associated with ambitious reforms and undertakings, including but not limited to: reforming and restructuring the Ministry; elaboration of policy documents such as the Ministry Strategy, Police Code of Ethics, National Strategy and Action Plan for Countering Organized Crime, and National Strategy and Action Plan for Countering CBRN Threats; reform to separate the national security branch from the Ministry of Interior and establishment of the State Security Service (SSG), where he was appointed in 2015.
At the SSG, Irakli Beraia served as the Director of the Information-Analytical Department (responsible for intelligence analysis) in 2015 - 2016, before moving to politics. In that period, he also chaired the group of Georgian participants at the IPRM (incident prevention and response mechanism—a technical/humanitarian format to discuss humanitarian and security issues along the occupation line and in occupied territories) meetings.
In parallel with holding positions at the Ministry of Interior and State Security Service, Irakli Beraia served as the Secretary of the National CBRN Council.
In the 2016 parliamentary elections, he was nominated by Georgian Dream to run for the 63rd Parliamentary District, which included Senaki Municipality (his hometown), before the redistricting of 2020. His campaign was inaugurated by Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who called him "young but experienced." In the 9th Parliament (2016–2020), he served as the First Deputy Chair of Defence and Security Committee, later as Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, and in parallel as Chair of the Parliamentary Commission on De-occupation and Restoration of Territorial Integrity. After his re-election in 2020, until 2024, he served as the Chair of Defence and Security Committee and as the Ex-Officio Chair of the Group of Trust (the Select Parliamentary Group overseeing the top-secret activities of defence and security institutions). In the same period, Irakli Beraia was the head of the Georgian Parliamentary Delegation to the NATO PA.
During his membership in the Parliament, he was a strong advocate for strengthening Georgia’s defence capabilities, the increased intelligence/security funding, the country’s membership in NATO and the EU, for deepening defence and security partnership with the United States and other NATO allies. His name is associated with establishing and strengthening committee ties with partner states’ parliamentary committees, government institutions, diplomatic missions, and international organizations, as well as with robust oversight over defence/security sectors. Under his leadership, the Defence and Security Committee and the Group of Trust held regular hearings of the respective executive agencies and carried out oversight visits. He, several times, invited high ranking officials of the NATO and US DOD to brief the Committee members in camera on a number of issues.
Intelligence officer[edit]
After the 2015 creation of the State Security Service as Georgia's leading domestic intelligence agency, Irakli Beraia was appointed director of the powerful Information-Analytical Department inside the agency, responsible for intelligence gathering.
In the SSSG, he was named the point-person responsible for negotiations with South Ossetian de facto authorities as part of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM), held monthly in Ergneti.[1] In December 2015, Beraia claimed that he had convinced the South Ossetian side to agree to restore a trilateral human rights dialogue mediated by the Red Cross that had been boycotted by Tskhinvali since 2013, although the format was never factually restored.[2] In May 2016, Beraia took part in the first IPRM meeting with Abkhazian authorities since 2012,[3] although tensions surrounding the murder of Georgian civilian Giga Otkhozoria by Abkhazian security forces[4] made the format collapse.
Under his posting, the SSSG took over all monitoring activities related to the conflict zones of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, especially related to increased borderization activities by Russian forces around Tskhinvali.[5]
On 31 December 2015, he was promoted to the rank of Senior Lieutenant of State Security.
References[edit]
- ^ "გიორგი კვირიკაშვილმა სამეგრელოს რეგიონში მაჟორიტარი დეპუტატობის კანდიდატები დაასახელა". InterPressNews. 23 July 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ Aptsiauri, Goga (16 December 2015). "წლის ბოლო შეხვედრა ერგნეთში, სანაკოევის მოულოდნელი განცხადებით". Radio Tavisupleba. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ "4 წლის შემდეგ პირველად გალში ინციდენტების პრევენციისა და მათზე რეაგირების მექანიზმის ფარგლებში შეხვედრა მიმდინარეობს". InterPressNews. 27 May 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ "საქართველოს ხელისუფლება მოითხოვს, გიგა ოთხოზორიას მკვლელობაში ბრალდებული ქართული მართლმსაჯულების წინაშე წარსდგეს". InterPressNews. 27 May 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ Aptsiauri, Goga (10 August 2015). "კიდევ ერთი ბანერი სოფელ თამარაშენთან". Radio Tavisupleba. Retrieved 3 November 2023.