Dr. Maia Panjikidze has been appointed the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia on 25 October 2012.

Before becoming Foreign Minister, Dr. Panjikidze has been an active member of the Georgian Dream - political coalition that formed the government after the parliamentary election victory on 1 October 2012. In February 2012, she assumed the position of Spokesperson and the Head of the Central Office of the coalition.

Prior to entering national politics, Dr. Panjikidze has enjoyed an extensive diplomatic career serving earlier as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Federal Republic of Germany (2004-2007) and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of the Netherlands (2007-2010). As a career diplomat, she rose through the ranks in Foreign Service occupying various high level positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, starting from the First Secretary in 1994 to the Deputy Minister in 2004.

Aside from her government jobs, Dr. Panjikidze had actively pursued an academic career since 1988 as a Professor and Lecturer of Philology to become a full professor at the Guram Tavartkiladze University, where she taught in 2010-2011. She has founded and chaired the Union of German Language Teachers of Georgia, and authored several works in German Language and Literature.

Dr. Maia Panjikidze holds PhD in Philology. She has been educated at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena in Germany and Tbilisi Javakhishvili State University. In addition to Georgian, Dr. Panjikidze speaks German, English, Russian and Dutch languages. She is married and has two sons.