From 1990 to 2001, he worked for the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, where he last served as the director of the U.S., Canada and Latin America Department. He is a co-founder of, and from 2001 to 2008 was executive vice-president of, the
Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, the largest think tank in the
South Caucasus. He is also a co-founder and member of the boards of the Georgian Council on Foreign Relations and the Atlantic Council of Georgia, and a member of the board of the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs. He has authored several publications on national security, conflict management, and foreign relations. On 31 January 2008 he was appointed by the
President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili as
State Minister of Georgia for Reintegration. He is the architect of Georgia's strategy of engagement with the Russian-occupied regions of
Abkhazia and
South Ossetia, which aims to "promote interaction among the divided populations of Georgia, currently separated by occupation lines." On 20 November 2010 his nomination as Ambassador to the United States was announced. In February 2012, he was awarded the Presidential Order of Excellence. The victory of the "Georgian dream" at the parliamentary elections in Georgia on 1 October 2012 and the formation of a new government under
Bidzina Ivanishvili on 25 October led to changes of the diplomatic staff. So ambassador Yakobashvili took the consequences and announced his resignation on 8 November. As president
Mikheil Saakashvili hesitated with approval of new ambassadors, suggested by the new government, it lasted until March 2013 that the successor for Yakobashvili,
Archil Gegeshidze, had been appointed. == References ==