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Ambassador Michael B. Christides

Ambassador Michael B. CHRISTIDES is the Secretary General of the Permanent International Secretariat (PERMIS) of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey.

Born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1949, Ambassador CHRISTIDES joined the Hellenic MFA in 1976 as first in his Class and served with distinction until his retirement in August 2014. Among other assignments he served as Ambassador of Greece to Bulgaria, to Turkey and to Argentina and held senior posts in the Hellenic MFA. After his retirement Ambassador CHRISTIDES was elected by the BSEC Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs as Secretary General of the BSEC PERMIS, assuming his duties on 1 July 2015.

Following the unanimous endorsement by all BSEC Member States, the same Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs reappointed on 15 December 2017 Ambassador CHRISTIDES for a second three year term-in-office, as of 1 July 2018.

Mr. Kostas Karamanlis

Kostas Karamanlis was born in Athens in 1974. He has studied History and Economics at Hamilton College and earned an MA in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Tufts University.

In January 2015 Kostas was elected to parliament with the party of New Democracy, and was re-elected in September 2015 and in July 2019. From January 2016 since June 2019 he was the shadow minister of the New Democracy Party for Infrastructure and Transport.

After the 2019 election, Kostas was appointed Minister for Infrastructure and Transport in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Before getting into politics, Kostas worked from 2002 until 2004 in London for the UBS Warburg Bank. In 2004 he returned to Greece and started working as a chief executive at Mantinia Shipping Company.

Kostas is also a member of the Board of Directors of the “Konstantinos G. Karamanlis” Foundation and of the Board of Overseers of the Fletcher School.

Mr. Konstantinos Skrekas

Konstantinos Skrekas hails from Megarhi, Trikala. He is married to Eirini Karagouni and father of two daughters, Alexandra and Sophia. He holds a Diploma in Civil Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of  Technology),  and  an  MSc  in  Construction Management from the University of Birmingham, UK.

After completing his studies, he worked in the FMCG sector (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) in managerial positions. Co-founder of a company operating in the FMCG sector and CEO for 15 years.

In the parliamentary elections of 6 May 2012 he was elected Member of the Greek Parliament (MP) for the Constituency of Trikala with the New Democracy Party. He was re-elected on 17th June of the same year. On 25th of January 2015 he was elected Member of the Greek Parliament (MP), receiving the largest number of electoral votes among candidates from all political parties. He was re-elected in the elections on 20th September of the same year. In the general elections on 7th July 2019 he was elected first in votes Member of the Greek Parliament for the Constituency of Trikala.

During his incumbency in the Hellenic Parliament he has been member of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, the Standing Committee on Production and Trade, the Special Permanent Committee on Research and Technology and the Special Permanent Committee on Environmental Protection. He was also the responsible MP for the Environment and Energy Sector for the New Democracy Party.

He was appointed Minister of Development and Competitiveness from October 2014 until February 2015. On 9th July 2019 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, responsible for the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).

He speaks English and French.

Mr. Makis Voridis

Makis Voridis was born in Athens in 1964. He graduated from Athens College and obtained a degree in Law, from the University of Athens. He holds a Master of Law from the University of London, specialized in International Commercial Law and in Criminal Law. He is fluent both in English and French.

In 1992 he served in the Army, as a Cadet Reserve Officer of Artillery, leader of his series of the Artillery School and was released qualifying the rank of Lieutenant. He has been practicing Law in Athens for the last 29 years specialized in International Commercial Law and in Criminal Law. He is married to Danai Michelakou, pediatrician and they have two children.

In September 2007 he was elected for the first time as a member of Greek Parliament, and was re-elected in October 2009, in the Attica Region. In November 2011, he was appointed as Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and public transportation Networks, during the coalition Government of political parties PASOK-NEW DEMOCRACY-LAOS, under Prime Minister Loukas Papadimos. At the elections of May 6th 2012, he was elected as a member of Parliament, Attica electoral District under the Political Party “New Democracy”, ranking first position in the Election Ballot. From 2012 until 2014 he was the Parliamentary Representative of Political Party “New Democracy”. He was re-elected during the elections of June 17th 2012 (Election List).

In June 2013 he was assigned as President of the Political Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In June 2014 he was appointed Minister of Health under Prime Minister Antonios Samaras. He was re-elected at the elections of 15th January and 20th September of 2015, with the Political party of “New Democracy”, in the Attica Region. In January 2016, the President of political Party “New Democracy”, appointed him as Divisional Director of Internal Affairs. Ιn July 2017 he was elected President of the Special Immigration Committee of the Parliament Assembly of OSCE.

In July 7th 2019 he was re-elected as a member of Parliament of East Attica A’ District, under the Political Party of “New Democracy” and was appointed Minister of Rural Development and Food.

Dr. Konstantinos Baginetas

Dr. Konstantinos N. Baginetas was born in Lamia (Greece) in 1977. He studied Agronomy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He continued his studies at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London on issues of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (M.Sc.) and the University of Nottingham in matters of Interdisciplinary Development of Agro -environmental Sustainability Indicators (Ph.D.).

In July 2019, by decision of the Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Minister of Rural Development & Food Mr. Makis Voridis, he was appointed Secretary General of Agricultural Policy and Management of European Funds of the Ministry of Rural Development & Food.

Since 2007 he works in the Directorate of Rural Affairs of Central Greece of the Decentralised Administration of Thessaly-Central Greece, where he is principally engaged with investment projects regarding the modernization of agricultural holdings, projects focusing on young farmers entering agriculture and matters of agrotouristic development investment projects. He has, also, served as an officer-administrator of tens of Technical Assistance projects in the Special Managing Authority of the Region of Central Greece.

He has been a consultant of the Deputy Minister of Development and Competitiveness and of the Alternate Minister of Finance Mr. Chr. Staikouras during 2013-2014. In July 2016, the President of the political party of New Democracy (ND) Mr Kyriakos Mitsotakis, appointed him as the Secretary of Rural Organisations of ND.

He participated as a member of the Thematic Group for the Strategic Planning on «Innovation-Research-Training» of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food regarding the preparation of the programming period 2014-2020 and in Working Groups of the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece regarding the formulation of proposals within the Rural Development programming period 2014-2020.

He has participated in numerous research and vocational training sessions abroad and in Greece. He has attended many workshops, seminars, national and international conferences, where he has presented research papers. He was a leader and a member of several European research programs and best practice exchange programs. He is an External Expert-Evaluator of the European Commission for the program «Horizon 2020» on issues of «Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime Affairs and Bio-Economy».

He is a certified adult educator and has participated as an instructor in educational programs related to environmental education, environmental management, rural development and rural entrepreneurship. He has been elected a Representative of the Agricultural Sector of the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece (GEOTEE) in the Regional Branch of Central Greece.

He has been elected President of the Agricultural Association of the Prefectures of Fthiotida-Evritania and a member of the Board of the Panhellenic Federation of Agricultural Associations (POSG). He has authored the books entitled “Rural Development Program 2014-2020 & Rural Development Proposal for the Municipality of Lamia”, “Sustainable Leadership in School Units. Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Research” and “Two Years of Action – Kostas Baginetas – Secretary of Rural Organisations ND”.

He is married to Evangelia I. Bakogianni, a speech therapist, and has a son. He speaks English and French.

Mr. Harry Theocharis

Harry Theocharis is the Greek minsiter of Tourism. He was first elected as a member of the Hellenic Parliament in January 2015.

Mr. Theocharis has served as a secretary general for information systems and as a secretary general for public revenues, when he reorganized the agency and succeeded in meeting budget revenues and producing a fiscal surplus.

He earned his Master’s with honors in software engineering from Imperial College.

Dr. Anagnostis Argiriou

Dr. Anagnostis Argiriou was born in Drama. He graduated Biological Sciences with full honors and degrees. He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Medical Biotechnology from Italy.

From 1996 to 2003 he worked in the Center for Genetic Engineering (CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate) in Italy where he developed and improved gene therapy and molecular diagnostic protocols, but also participated in the sequencing program of the first plant genome.

Since 2006 he holds the position of Researcher and from 2014 the position of Deputy Director at the Institute of Applied Biosciences of the Center for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH).

His main research field is the study of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms related to nutrition and the effects on health. Furthermore, he works on the management and introduction of technological innovations based on modern genomic technologies for the promotion and exploitation of the Greek biodiversity.

He participates in various scientific councils of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, the Mistry of Rural Development and Food and the Ministry of Health. He has many years of teaching experience in university; he participates in research projects, and is the author of a significant number of scientific publications in international journals.

Dr. Eleni Maloupa

Dr. Eleni Maloupa (BSc Agronomy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, MSc & PhD in Plant Biology and Physiology, “Pierre et Marie Curie” University of Paris) is Director of the Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Head of the Laboratory for the Conservation and Evaluation of Native and Floricultural Species (LabCENFS) and Curator of the Balkan Botanic Garden Kroussia.

Her research fields focuses on protection, conservation, propagation and utilization of native Greek plant species (mainly aromatic-medicinal). She has teaching experience in graduate and postgraduate level (Universities, MAICH). She participated in the MSc program “The biodiversity and sustainable exploitation of native plants” (School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) and supervise MSc and PhD thesis in school of Pharmacy and Athens Agronomy University. Her research work has been published in more than 60 international and Greek journals. She has also participated in the publication of 3 book chapters.

She has implemented major research programs in collaboration with internationally renowned researchers. She has organized and materialized educational programs and seminars addressed to farmers, enterprises and interested civilians on the above-mentioned subjects. She has educational certification for adult training from the National Organization for the Certification of Qualifications & Vocational Guidance (EOPPEP).

Abstract (EN/GR): here

Mr. Georgios Stratakos

Mr. Georgios Stratakos was born in Athens in 1978 and comes from Scoutari of Lakonia. He is married to Mari Ovakimian and they have one child.

He is a graduate of the Agricultural University of Athens and holds a Master’s Degree (MSc) in the field of “Genetic Improvement, Breeding and Feeding of Farm Animals” and a PhD in “Microclimate Conditions and Reproduction Physiology of Farm Animals”. He has been a scholar of the State Scholarship Foundation in the field of Bioclimatology.

Since 2007 he has been working as an agronomist.  He also served as a Special Advisor of the Secretary General for Research and Technology of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs during 2013-2015 and as an executive in the office of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Petros Doukas during 2007-2009.

He has been a member of the Administration Council of the Hellenic Pasteur Institute and of the Board of Directors of the Patras Science Park. He has been elected as a regular member of the co-administration bodies of the Agricultural University of Athens (Council of the Animal Production Department and the General Department, Senate and Rector’s Council). He has also served as a member of the Governing Committee of the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece (GEOTEE) in the Regional Branch of Eastern Central Greece and as a Secretary General for the Agronomic Association of Attica. He has participated in numerous committees such as “Implementation of RIS3 within the framework of Smart Specialization for the Peloponnese and Thessaly Regions”, “National Action Planning for Research, Technology and Innovation 2014-2020”, “Drawing up the National Strategy-Road Map for the Country’ s Research Infrastructures”, “Strategic Planning of the Rural Development Program in the field of Agriculture and Agri-food”, “Evaluation of Research Centers’ Institutes in the field of Bioscience” . He has been a working group member to support the Secretariat General for Science and Technology in the preparation and organization of events for the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Mr. Anthony D. Papayannides

Has read Law in Athens University. Post-graduate studies in Law, Economics and International Relations and in Medieval History in Strasbourg and Cambridge.  DEA European Law, DIHEE European Economy. Practiced business law and EU law. Consultant on E.U. topics to the Athens Daily Newspaper Publishers’ Association.

Member, then national representative, of the negotiating team for the Integrated Mediterranean Programmes. Counsellor to the Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs, Counsellor to the Minister for Culture, Chairman of the Committee of Cultural Affairs at the E.U. Council. Consultant to the Bank of Greece. Founding member and member of the Board of a number of European affairs institutes and reviews in Greece (EKEME, EKEM, EEK)

From 1972 onwards a journalist and then a columnist at the Greek political daily “TO VIMA” and at the economic and financial weekly  “ECONOMICOS TACHYDROMOS”, specialising in macro-economic policy European affairs and foreign relations. Has also worked at “ELEFTHEROTYPIA” and “IMERISSIA” newspapers, managing editor of “ELEFHEROS TYPOS”.

Writes a bi-weekly column at “NAFTEMPORIKI”. Presently managing director of ECONOMIA Publishing, (“ECONOMIKI EPITHEORISSI”, “BUSINESS FILE”; writes a daily blog at economia.gr). Participates to the talk show “Evening Report” at ACTION 24 Channel.