Back in those years, cooperation between Georgia and the European Community was mainly focused on humanitarian and technical issues, in which Zalkaliani was actively involved.

In 2002–2004, Zalkaliani served as a Senior Counsellor at the Embassy of Georgia to the U.S., Mexico and Canada; during his tenure, US-Georgia defense cooperation was considerably intensified.

He actively participated in the creation of the political party – “Free Democrats”, that was followed by the victory of the “Georgian Dream” coalition in 2012 parliamentary elections.

Since his appointment as the first Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, along with other important directions, David Zalkaliani has been actively engaged in the process of preparation of the Georgia-EU Association Agreement, acting as the Chief Negotiator on Georgia’s behalf.

Negotiations were successfully concluded on the 27th of June of 2014 with the ceremonious signing of the Association Agreement, between the European Union and Georgia, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) component.

From 2012 to 2014 Zalkaliani was a Chief Negotiator from the Georgian side in the Geneva International Discussions and the Co-Chair of working groups of U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership.

On April 4, 2022, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced Zalkaliani’s departure from the government and his appointment as the ambassador to the United States.