A picture taken on November 3, 2003 shows former Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze talking to the press in Tbilisi. Former Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze who helped end the Cold War in his capacity as the Soviet Union’s last foreign minister, died on July 7, 2014, aged 86. AFP PHOTO/VIKTOR DRACHEV

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Former secretary of state James Baker will lead a US delegation to the funeral of his old Cold War sparring partner Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Georgian president and last Soviet foreign minister.

The retired US statesman will be joined at the ceremony on Sunday by the US ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland, the White House said.

Baker this week wrote in The Washington Post that Shevardnadze was his friend despite being an adversary and had played a crucial role alongside Mikhail Gorbachev at a key moment in history.

“The Cold War could not have ended peacefully without him. He helped shepherd the Soviet Union, Europe and, indeed, the world through a period of profound and unpredictable change,” Baker wrote.

Shevardnadze died on Monday aged 86.