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Mr. Ilia Tamarashvili

Mr.Ilia Tamarashvili currently serves as a Director of Rural Development Agency (RDA), under Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture.

The mission of the RDA is to develop rural areas of Georgia including the development of both agricultural and non-agricultural economic activities. The Agency has been implementing dozens of subsidy programs for over 8 years that are a critical attractive mechanism for investing in rural areas. Those programmes are represented as grants and subsidies covering annual interest rates of banking loans and therefore  decreasing interest rate financial pressure on farmers. This funding mechanism is the most economical in  the country. The Agency also creates a culture of agri-Insurance by covering part of the annual premium for farmers. As a whole, Agency has implemented programmes that attracted minimum 4 billion Georgian Lari investment in agriculture and rural activities and created a strong background for development of the whole value chain of thea. As a result, over 100 000 local population was employed due to the programmes implemented by RDA.

Ms Tamarashili hold different managerial positions for 18 years. He previously served as a Department Director of Sales, Lending and Learning in diverse leading Commercial Georgian Banks for 12 years.

He speaks Georgian, English and Russian fluently. He is married and is a father of one daughter and two boys.

Ms. Fatma Dirkes

Mrs. Dirkes is Vice President and Director International Advisory Services of Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. Established in 1957 as German Bank Training Institute, the School has today one of the largest faculties for both business administration and financial research in Germany.

As Member of the Management Committee, Mrs. Dirkes is involved in the School’s executive decision-making process and is charged with developing the School, defining strategic objectives, risk management and ensuring the institution is moving towards fulfilling its goals and mission. Since the early 1990s, the Schools unit, International Advisory Services has been committed to providing consultancy, training and policy services globally. On behalf of various government agencies and development finance institutions (e.g. EU, EIB, EBRD, KFW, IFC/World Bank), International Advisory Services carries out financial sector development projects across the world.  By being responsible for the School International Executive Education Portfolio, Mrs. Dirkes has played a leading role in developing Frankfurt School’s blended and online learning portfolio.

Ms. Dirkes has also played a leading role in developing a number of large advisory projects and Rural and Agricultural Finance lending programs established by Frankfurt School. Among other projects, she worked as the Responsible Project Director of numerous successfully implemented Financial Sector projects for example the “EBRD – Turkey Agribusiness SME Financing Facility” and the “EBRD – Tajik Agricultural Finance Framework”. With her long-term experience she has excellent knowledge in designing and implementing innovative agricultural finance projects with a professional track-record of over 10 years.

Mrs. Dirkes is since January 2020 President and since 2017, Member of the Executive Committee of the Brussels based European Banking & Financial Services Training Association (EBTN). EBTN is the united voice of providers of vocational education and training in the financial industry and an international network of banking institutes. EBTN is open to organizations of various nationalities and has currently 43 Members.

Before joining Frankfurt School in 2003, Mrs. Dirkes has worked as Consultant and Auditor for Financial Institutions for Price Waterhouse Coopers and KPMG. Mrs. Dirkes holds a university degree in Business Administration and is fluent in German, Turkish and English.

Dr. Nikolaos Thomaidis

Nikolaos S. Thomaidis is Professor of Analytical Chemistry in the Chemistry Department of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He leads a dedicated scientific group (TrAMS group), with constant research activity over the last 25 years. Prof. Thomaidis’ research interests focus on the development of cutting-edge HRMS methodologies for the thorough characterization of foods, but also of environmental and clinical samples, by applying both targeted and untargeted screening workflows.

Sophisticated chemometric tools have been developed, supporting data process and reliable evaluation of the results. Prof. Thomaidis lab has also established an accredited service laboratory according to ISO 17025, performing food analysis in line with European and International standards. His overall research activity is summed up to >250 articles, >8000 citations and a 50-h-index (Scopus ID: 6701846377). As principal investigator he has participated in several research projects, highly contributing to developing new methods and protocols in challenging authenticity and safety issues.

Dr. Phoebe Koundouri

She is a world-renowned environmental economics professor and global leader in sustainable development. She is widely recognized as a pioneer in innovative, human-centric, interdisciplinary systems for the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy.

She is listed in the most-cited women economists in the world, with 15 published books and more than 450 published peer reviewed scientific papers, book chapters and reports. She is elected member of the World Academy of Art & Science, President-elect of the European Association of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists and she has received numerous international awards for academic excellence, including the prestigious European Research Council Synergy Grant (2020). With 100 European/Global research projects/initiatives and a team of 150 researchers, her work defines global policies and supports human well-being across the globe.

She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and has taught at Cambridge, UCL, LSE, Reading University. Since 2006 she is professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB), founder/director of the ReSEES Research Laboratory (AUEB), the Sustainable Development Unit (ATHENA Informatics Research and Innovation Center) and the Climate-KIC HUB Greece of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology .

She chairs the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network – Europe, the International Center for Research ICRE8 and the SAB of European Forest Institute. She is a commissioner of the global COVID-19 Lancet Commission, member of the Pissaridis Commission (10 year Greek Development Plan) and of the National Climate Change Committee of Greece, and an advisor to the EU, the World Bank, the UN, NATO, the WHO and other international organizations and governments worldwide.

Ms. Alia El-Yassir

Ms. Alia El-Yassir (Canada) has been working with UN Women since 2011.  Prior to assuming her role as Regional Director, she worked with UN Women as Deputy Regional Director and as Representative at country level. In these roles, she has supported normative processes and UN coordination efforts, as well as complex programmes and projects for tackling gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Before taking on these roles within UN Women, she worked with UNIFEM and UNDP. She also has experience in the science education field. Alia is a strong believer in volunteerism and has supported a number of women and human rights NGOs in a volunteer capacity.  She holds a BSc degree in Biology from McGill University and an MSc degree in Desert Studies from Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

Dr. George Stylios

The Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, Mr. George Stylios, holds a PhD in Informatics from the Department of Computer Engineering & Informatics of the Polytechnic School of the University of Patras, he holds an MSc degree in Information Systems from the City University of London, and he graduated from the department of Physics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

He is a faculty member at the Ionian University. He worked as a researcher at the University of Patras as well as in Greek and European development programs. He was the Head of the Department of Applications and Informatics in Administration and Economics at the TEI of the Ionian Islands.

He has been a Member of Parliament for Arta with New Democracy, since May 2012, as well as head of the Greek Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

He served as Deputy Minister of Education and Religions and Deputy Minister of Digital Governance. He has also been the Chairman of the Nutrition Committee for Educational Affairs of the Parliament, a member of the Finance Committee of the Parliament, the Government and Trade and the Special Monastery Committee of Bulgaria, as well as a Representative of the Parliament in the Parliamentary Assembly of Parliamentary Assembly of the Southeast Europe Cooperation Process.

Mr. Tassos Haniotis

Tassos Haniotis is Director for “Strategy, Simplification and Policy Analysis” in the DG for Agriculture and Rural development of the European Commission. The mission of the Directorate is to contribute to the overall strategic orientation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) by (i) providing policy perspectives and analysis on topics related to the agriculture and rural economy in the European Union, including in the development of the EU’s annual outlook baseline, (ii) coordinating the DG’s impact assessment of major policy initiatives by providing evidence-based analysis to support legislative proposals, and to support the adaptation of the CAP through the evaluation of its effectiveness, efficiency and impact based on its common monitoring and evaluation framework.

He has also held posts as Acting Director for Direct Payments, as Head of Unit in the Units for Agricultural Policy Analysis and Perspectives, and for Agricultural Trade Policy Analysis in DG AGRI, as Deputy Head of Cabinet of former European Commissioner for Agriculture Franz Fischler, and as Agricultural Counsellor in the European Commission’s Delegation in the US.

Tassos holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Economics from the University of Georgia in the U.S., and a B.A. in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business in his native Greece, and was a visiting Fellow at the Centre for European Agricultural Studies, Wye College, University of London, focusing on EU-US agricultural trade relations in the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations before joining the European Commission.

A member of the Executive of the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium during 2012-14, Tassos currently represents the European Commission in the G20’s Rapid Response Forum and GEOGLAM Advisory Committee.

Mr. Nabil Gangi

Mr Nabil Gangi is the Deputy Regional Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for the region of Europe and Central Asia, and de facto head of FAO offices in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Gangi is a Senior Development Professional who started his career as an engineer developing and implementing irrigation projects in Egypt using state of the art telemetry and communication technology. In 1999, after twelve years of work in development with international multilateral and non-governmental organizations, he joined the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations where he held several senior positions in headquarters, regional and country offices including Cairo, Rome, Budapest, Abu-Dhabi and Tehran. In 2016 he held the position of Deputy Regional Representative for Near East & North Africa Region until 2019 when he was appointed as Deputy Regional Representative for the Europe & Central Asia Region in Budapest.

Gangi, a national of Canada, has a background in engineering, project and financial management, and business administration. He speaks Arabic, English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Ms. Christiana Kalogirou

Christiana Kalogirou was born in Athens. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business (former HIEBS) and a Master of Science degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Disaster and Crisis Management Strategies in Administrative and Development sectors.

She has worked in the private sector for 20 years. She has carried out studies and scientific work in the fields of economic and regional development. At the same time, she was actively involved in initiatives relating to sustainable development, maritime economy, entrepreneurship, culture, environmental protection, as well as women’s issues.

In 2004, she was elected Member of Parliament with the New Democracy party representing Lesvos Prefecture. In 2012, she assumed the position of Secretary General of the Decentralized Aegean Administration of the Ministry of Interior. In 2014, she was elected Regional Governor of Northern Aegean. From August 2019 to April 2021 she served as Secretary General of the Aegean and Island Policy of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs  and Insular Policy. In April 2021 she took over the position of Secretary General of Rural Development and Food.