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Menelaos Gardikiotis is an Agriculture Engineer, graduate of Agricultural University of Athens, Department of Agriculture Biotechnology.

He is working in the private sector and since 2011 he has been running his own business.

Today he participates in three business schemes regarding the concerned industry, providing services in the Agri-Food sector, and has established a network of associates of businesses from Evros to Crete, numbering over 15 business schemes.

He has been an advisor to the Minister of Rural Development and Food with responsibility the preparation of the 2014-2020 RDP, while he was also an associate of Deputy Direct of OGA.He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Environmental Organization of the Prefecture Piraeus.He has been Secretary General of GEOT.E.E. for two consecutive terms. He is married to Kyriaki Papadakis and has a daughter.

Christodoulos Bozatzidis was born in Orestiada in 1981. He is a graduate of the Department of Public Economy & Business Administration at the University of Cyprus.

In 2004, completing his military service, he assumed the duties of vice president and deputy managing director at Agrohellas A.E., a company active in the trade of agricultural products and in recent years in the field of agricultural fertilizers. In the same year, he joined the staff of AgroLine ABEE, an official importer of CLAAS agricultural machinery, as an import manager.

In 2011 he was one of the founders of Green Line Energy SA. company active in renewable energy sources. The company proceeded with the construction of photovoltaic plants for farmers, while in 2015 it completed the construction of its first biogas unit.

In 2012, he took over as Chairman of the Board and CEO of the newly established company Agrotech S.A., the official importer of the agricultural machinery of the leading manufacturer John Deere. The company managed to bring John Deere machines into the lives of Greek farmers and raise it to the top sales position.

Areti Roditi is a Mandate Manager with the European Investment Fund (EIF) for the last 2 years and is currently based in Athens. She has been dealing with regional mandates funded by European Structural and Investment Funds as well as the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Before joining EIF she has worked as Legal Counsel in the Legal Service of the European Investment Bank (EIB) for 3 years, dealing  with the legal aspects of financial instruments in Greece, Cyprus, Lithuania, Poland and Scotland.

Areti is a dual-qualified lawyer (attorney-at-law, Athens Bar Association and solicitor, England and Wales) with extensive professional experience in project finance, complex financial transactions, corporate law, EU law and international construction contracts. Prior to joining the EIB Group she has worked (among others) as chief legal counsel in the PPP & Concessions department of a major Greek construction company (AVAX SA) and as a lawyer with Kyriakides – Georgopoulos law firm.

She holds a law degree (LLB) from the University of Athens, a Master’s Degree (LLM) in European Law from the College of Europe (Brugge, Belgium), a Master’s degree (LLM) in Civil Law from the University of Athens, a MSc in Business for Lawyers from ALBA Graduate Business School and an International Diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance from the International Compliance Association. She is fluent in English, French, Spanish, German and has knowledge of Italian, Arabic and Russian

Mr. Dimitris Papagiannidis was born in 1959, at Orini (in the highlands of) Nafpaktia. He studied Civil Engineering at the Democritus University of Thrace (D.U.Th.). He continued his postgraduate studies from 1985-86 in France on the subject of «Metal constructions and underground works», while he also earned a Postgraduate Specialization Diploma at the National Technical University of Athens in the INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES 2011-2012 “Environment and

Development” with a grade of Excellent.

In the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, he was honored in 2021 with the responsibility of the General Secretariat of Union Resources and Infrastructure, which was re-established at the Ministry of Rural Development and Food. Since 2017 he has been/holds the position of the General Manager at the MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORT in GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF STRATEGIC

TRANSPORT PLANNING AND ROAD SAFETY. Under his responsibility were the EU programs of the Ministry; the approval and monitoring of the National Strategic Transport Plan 2019-2037 (ESSM); the ESS; (the program?) Road Safety 2021-2030; the sectors of “Intelligent Transport Systems-ITS” of Logistics; Air Transport (Waterways etc.); and the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans.

For many years he was/serviced as Director and Executive in the Special Service for Public Works of Hydraulic Infrastructure Construction. He was mainly involved in the management of Large National Projects of National/nationwide Level Plumbing and Road Construction with a budget of over 2 billion €. Ιndicatively: the Acheloos Diversion Projects, Athens Water supply from the river Evinos, Water Supply Patras, Thessaloniki and Fyrlia Island of Paxron L, Straw Dam, Irrigation Networks of Amvrakia-Amfilochia, land improvement works in the area of Valtos, Aetoloakarnania, Anti-flooding works in the riparian zone of the Stream of Eschatia, Attica, and the construction of tunnels in Karpenisi, Agios Ilias Aitolo.

He was President of the Association of Civil Engineers of Greece in the period 2004-2009, and General Secretary in 1998-2004. He was President for 3 terms of DKM and is elected in the Central Delegation of Technical Chamber of Greece and in various sections of Engineers from 1990 until today. During the government of Costas Karamanlis, he was in charge of the Special Secretariat for Community Resources and Infrastructure at the Ministry of Rural Development and Food in the period 2004-2009.

He remapped the Special Services of the RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, while he also increased the staff with increased qualifications from the MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION UNIT OF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS. Furthermore, he expanded the Services and suggested to the political leadership the establishment and operation of 3 new Special Units, these of a) Coordination, b) Infrastructure and c) Implementation of Co-financed Actions of the 3rd EU-funded programs and in 2007 of the Operational Program for Fisheries and Sea 2007-2013.

Andreas Lykourentzos was born in Tripolis, Arcadia, in 1957. He is a graduate of Panteion University, from the department of Political Studies, having followed the direction of Comparative Political Analysis. He was elected as Member of Parliament for the region of Arcadia in the National Elections in 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2012. During his eleven-year parliamentary term, he participated as a member in the Standing Parliamentary Committees on: Social Affairs, Finances, Educational Affairs, Public Administration and in the Special Committees on: the Environment, the Review of the Constitution and Districts. He served as a Deputy Minister of National Education and Religions during the Government administration of Kostas Karamanlis 2007- 2009. He served as a Minister of Health during the Government administration of Antonis Samaras in 2012- 2013.

From 1st November 2019 since, he has been appointed as the President of the Organisation of Greek Agricultural Insurances.

Graduated from the University of Forestry, bachelor’s degree in “Ecology”,, master’s degree in “Environmental Restoration and Ecological Monitoring” and has a PhD in Ecology and Ecosystem Protection . I also completed a master’s degree in “Law” at Southwestern University “Neofit Rilski”

For over 10 years, I have been teaching at the Department of Ecology, Protection and Restoration of the Environment at the Forestry University. My work is related to teaching students in bachelor’s and master’s degrees in disciplines such as “Solid waste processing technologies”, “Household waste management”, “Fluid purification technologies” and others.

My scientific interests are focused on waste management and water and gas purification. I participate in various research projects, and in recent years the emphasis of my work has been on the circular economy. At the moment, I am participating as a researcher in the Clean&Circle Competence Center, created by a project BG05M2OP001-1.002-0019:„Clean technologies for sustainable environment – water, waste, energy for circular economy“.

George Zalidis graduated from the Agronomy Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with doctoral studies at the Department of Soil Science and postdoctoral studies in Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering Department at the State University of Michigan US.

Today, he is the  Director of the Laboratory of Remote Sensing, Spectroscopy and Geographical Information Systems, and member of the Laboratory of Applied Soil Sciences at the Department of Agriculture of the School of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is also the  Scientific Coordinator of Interbalkan Environment Center (i-BEC) since 2007.

His research focuses on issues of quality and restoration of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, the use of Earth observation data (space and terrestrial) in the  Societal Benefit Areas, the OECD indicators of sustainable development and the use of spectral data in the monitoring of agricultural ecosystems and natural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

CURRENT POSITION

• Professor of Pollution and Soil Degradation, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Land Reclamation Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, Laboratory of Applied Soil Science.
• Director of the Laboratory of Remote Sensing, Spectroscopy and G.I.S., Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Agriculture.
• Member of the Laboratory of Applied Soil Science. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Agriculture.
• Scientific Director, Interbalkan Environment Center (I-BEC)
• Member, Hellenic Quality Assurance & Accreditation Agency (HQA) Council
• Representative of the Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Rural Development and Food at the international Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring Initiative (GEOGLAM) of GEO.

Since 2022, Niko Kalinis is the programme manager for the Greek Common Agriculture Policy Strategic Plan (2023-2027) at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. He has worked as an auditor since 2015 in this Directorate-General. He first joined the European Commission in 2009 at the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers. Prior to joining the Commission, he worked for the Belgian Ministry for Agriculture and the Belgian Food Safety Agency. He earned a Master’s degree in food and chemistry engineering from Leuven University and holds an MBA. He is a Belgian national.