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Ekaterine Meiering-Mikadze is a fellow with MEI’s Frontier Europe Initiative. She is a diplomat and development professional who served between 2004 and 2017 in subsequent postings as ambassador of Georgia to Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq as well as the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi Arabia, where she was the first ever female ambassador to be accredited.
Prior to joining the foreign service, Ekaterine worked in various research institutions and on a range of consulting assignments in Europe and the Middle East. Her work focused on migration issues and societal change, political Islam, Energy, GCC-EU relations, trade and investments, and South Caucasus. Ekaterine studied at Tbilisi State University, the University of Tunis, and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, where she graduated with a DEA in political science. She is fluent in Arabic, English, French, Georgian, German and Russian.
The Latest from Ekaterine Meiering-Mikadze Meiering-Mikadze
The tectonics of Middle Eastern geopolitics: Seismic signs in the Caucasus
Throughout 2020, the geopolitics between the Middle East and its northern frontier have converged further. Russia, Turkey, and Iran not only compete for influence (as states and through non-state actors) in core countries of the Middle East and North Africa like Syria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt and beyond in the Gulf. They also happen to be the three former imperial powers in the Caucasus – the crucial link between the Black and Caspian Seas on the seam of Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Running out of steam? The energy argument and the Black Sea
With the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) set to start operations in November 2020, the Black Sea once again lives up to its reputation as being of strategic interest to European energy security. As the final component of the European Union’s Southern Gas Corridor, TAP allows gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to be pumped to Georgia and onward to Turkey, Greece, and Albania.
Drifting attention: Why the Black Sea continues to matter
The threat of Russian aggression in Eastern Europe is once again lingering. As if by clockwork, Russia’s relations with its neighbors are under scrutiny once more, six years after its annexation of Crimea and 12 years after its invasion of Georgia.
In one of the interesting turnarounds in recent years, travel flows between the Black Sea region and the Middle East have undergone a silent change. During the past decade, this southward flow of shuttle migrants was replaced by Middle Easterners heading northwards in search of promising business opportunities and alternative holiday destinations.
