ALEKSI ALEKSISHVILI

Aleksi Aleksishvili was born in February 21, 1974 in Tbilisi, Georgia. He graduated from Duke University, Durham NC, USA with Master of Arts, majoring in Public Finances and Management in 2004. Prior to this, he graduated from Iv. Javakhishvili State University, Department of Economics with a major in International Economic Relations, and received a diploma with honors in 1996. In 2004 he was appointed as a Minister of Economic Development of Georgia. During this period important reforms were implemented in the direction of economic policies. Aleksi Aleksishvili was appointed as a Minister of Finances of Georgia in 2005. Under his leadership the country’s economic and fiscal policy management has been considerably improved, due to economic and structural reforms that were carried out by his ministry, Georgia jumped in the World Bank’s rankings and has been nominated as the world’s number on reformer in 2006 and 2007. At present Aleksi Aleksishvili is the chairman of Policy and Management Consulting Group (PMCG), consulting company conducting various projects in public and business sector in Georgia and other countries.

PIM ALBERS

Pim Albers is currently working as a special advisor for the European Commission for

the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe (secondment). In this

function he is responsible for activities in the field of evaluation of judicial systems,

assistance to countries and work in the area of reducing delays in courts. As a former

expert, chair of the evaluation working group and member of the Bureau of the

CEPEJ he was one of the initiators for the development of a methodology to evaluate

judicial systems in Europe on the basis of empirical data (resulted in three reports on

judicial systems (2005, 2006 and 2008)). Also outside Europe he is participating in

(comparative) judicial assistance projects. For example he participated in 2006 in a

project of the American Bar Association (CEELI) and the Arab Council of Judicial

and Legal Studies (ACJLS) aiming at the creation of a justice sector benchmark for

the Middle East and North African countries. At the moment he is involved - as an

advisory member - in the promotion of an international ‘framework for Court

Excellence’ (a model to assess the quality of courts). The implementation of the

framework is supported by a ‘Consortium for Court Excellence’ (composed of

representatives of: the Singapore Subordinate Courts, the US National Centre for

State Courts, the US Federal Judicial Centre and the Australasian Institute of Judicial

Administration, the CEPEJ and the World Bank). See: www.courtexcellence.com.

As a part of his function as special advisor he represents the CEPEJ in many forums

and conferences. He gives lectures at training courses for judges, court staff and

representatives of ministries of justice working in Eastern European and MEDA

(Middle East and Northern Africa region) countries. In addition to these tasks he is

responsible for the subject of ‘e-justice’ in the CEPEJ, co-operation activities with the

European Union and for technical assistance concerning justice-reform projects

supported by the World Bank.

Before he joined the Council of Europe in 2006 he has occupied many functions at the

Dutch Ministry of Justice (1997 – 2006) and research posts at a research institute of

the University of Tilburg the Netherlands (1991 – 1997).

VAHRAM AVANESYAN

• Former Deputy Minister of Finance and Former Minister of Economy,

Managed major economic reforms in Armenia including public finance

reforms, privatization, and social reforms.

• Former Minister of Structural Reforms.

• Chief Advisor of Prime Minister.

• Professor of the Slavonic Armenian-Russian University. Currently Director of

the AVAG Solutions Consulting Company, assisted the Armenian

Government in preparation of Armenian PRSP I and PRSP II.

SABIT BAGIROV

Sabit Bagirov is the president of the Entrepreneurship Development Foundation and

the Center for Economic and Political Research in Baku, Azerbaijan. From 1992-

1993, he served as the state advisor on strategic programs to the president of

Azerbaijan, helping establish state committees on antimonopoly policy and support

for entrepreneurship, privatization of state property, land reform, and foreign

investment. During that time, he was also president of the State Oil Company of

Azerbaijan (SOCAR), during which he restructured the company for greater

efficiency and was responsible for contracts with foreign investors for the

development of oil and gas.

LASZLO BORVELY Title: Former Minister of Development, Public Works and Housing Organization: Government of Romania Country: Romania Education:

• 1973-1977, Institute of Economic Sciences, Timisoara University

Languages: Romanian Hungarian English Interests: As of 1991, President of ?Dr. Bernady Gyorgy? Cultural Foundation, Tg-Mures CV: Business:

• As of 2000 , Deputy, Romanian Parliament • 1996-2000, State Secretary, Ministry of Public Transports and Territory

management • 1990-1996, Deputy, Romanian Parliament • 1984-1990, Head of Commercial office, ICRA Tg-Mures • 1977-1984, Economist, IM Republica Reghin, BJATM Tg-Mures

Business courses:

• 1985, Post graduate course, Academy of Economic Studies- Bucharest • 1991, Salzburg Seminar

Political:

• Minister of Development, Public Works and Housing • Former State Minister • As of 2000, President of the Council of Representatives, UDMR Mures

County Organisation; • As of 2000, Member of the Standing Office of Deputies' Chamber; • As of 1998 , Executive vicepresident of UDMR; • 1992-1995, Member of the Standing Office of the Deputies' Chamber; • 1990-1994, President of the UDMR Mures County Organisation

Scientific Activity:

• Professor, 'Sapientia' University, Tg-Mures

LUCA BARBONE

Italian national.

Since November 1, 2007, World Bank Director for Poverty Reduction and Economic

Management, Europe and Central Asia Region.

Mr. Barbone joined the World Bank in 1988 as an Economist in the Latin America

and Caribbean Region, and has held a number of positions in the Europe and Central

Asia and in the Africa Regions of the Bank. During 2000-2004, he was World Bank

Director for Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, and during 2004-2007 he was the

Director for Poverty Reduction, PREM Network.

Prior to the World Bank, Mr. Barbone worked for the Organisation for Cooperation

and Development (Paris), the International Monetary Fund, the Planning Institute of

Jamaica, and the Bank of Italy.

Mr. Barbone holds a degree of Bachelor in Economics from the Milan Bocconi

University, as well as a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology.

Mr. Barbone has published a number of articles in professional journal and books.

Speaks Italian, English, French, Spanish and Russian.

GIUSEPPE BELSITO

Giuseppe Belsito, Italian, since October 2007 is the Manager of the UNDP

Programme Management Office in Athens. He is a UN official who has been

working for the United Nations since 1992 being based in various duty stations

ranging from Africa, Middle East and Geneva.

GORDON BETCHERMAN

Gordon Betcherman is Sector Manager and Lead Economist, Human Development

Economics in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region at the World Bank. He

joined the regional unit after seven years in the Bank’s central Social Protection Unit

where he led the Labor Market Group. In his current position, Dr. Betcherman is

responsible for leading economic analysis and policy lending in education, health, and

social protection and labor in the ECA region. Recent publications include an analysis

of aging populations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and a review of

labor market reforms in China over the past three decades. He has published widely in

the fields of labor economics and social protection and has been a frequent speaker

and media commentator. Prior to joining the World Bank in 1998, Dr. Betcherman

held senior positions in research organizations in Canada. He is a Visiting Fellow at

the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University. He obtained his PhD from the

University of California at Los Angeles.

PAUL BRENTON

Paul Brenton is a Senior Economist in the Trade Department of the World Bank. He

contributes to the Department's work on trade policy analysis and advice, with a

particular interest in export diversification, the economic impact of trade policies and

trade liberalization, trade preferences for developing countries, regional integration,

rules of origin, and the role of regulations in influencing international trade and

investment flows. He joined the Bank in August 2002, having been Senior Research

Fellow and Head of the Trade Policy Unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies

in Brussels. He has a PhD in Economics from the University of East Anglia.

IGOR V. BURAKOVSKY

Igor V. Burakovsky graduated from Kiev State University (Taras Shevchenko

University) in 1980. Received degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences in 1985,

Doctor of Economic Sciences in 1999. He started his professional career as a lecturer

at Kiev University, Economic Department and holds position of professor of National

University "Kyiv Mohyla Academy". Since April 2002 – Director, Institute for

Economic Research and Policy Consulting. Before joining Institute he worked as

Senior Economist and Project Manager at the EastWest Institute Kyiv Centre.

Participated in a number international research projects. Worked as research fellow

Great Britain (Birmingham University, Center For Russian and East European

Studies); Japan (Economic Planning Agency, Japan Institute for International

Affairs), USA (Fulbright Scholar, Stanford University). Professor Burakovsky has

been actively involved in economic policy consulting serving in different years as an

expert to the Permanent Commissions to the Supreme Council of Ukraine; Member of

Scientific and Expert Board, Ministry for Foreign Economic Relations, Ukraine;

member of Joint Parliamentary and Governmental Commission on Ukraine’s WTO

accession. He has a considerable list of publications on economic reforms in Ukraine,

international trade and trade policy in transition countries, regional economic

cooperation on the post-Soviet space.

ALAN DUKES

Economist, Member of Irish Parliament from 1981 to 2002. At various times has held

the posts of Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Finance, Minister for Justice,

Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications. Leader of the Opposition 1987-

1990. Director General, Institute of European Affairs, Dublin, 2003-2007. Currently,

Director, Anglo Irish Bank and Public Affairs Consultant, WHPR, Dublin.

DUZYOL CUNEYD

Member of Turkey delegation – presented presentation of C. Dagdas

• Director General for Economic Sectors and coordination of State Planning

Organization (SPO) of Turkey

• B.Sci. Degree on Civil Engineering(Middle East Technical University -

Turkey)

• Diploma on Development Economics in the University of East Alglia (UK)

• M.Sci. Degree on Policy Economics in the University of Illinois (USA)

Aries of Responsibility and concern:

• Sectoral policy formulation on agriculture, industry, and economic

infrastructure: transportation, energy, irrigation, etc.

• Public investment planning

• Project cycle management

VIORICA DUMBRĂVEANU

Deputy Minister of Labor, Social Protection, family and Child of Moldova. She was

born on December 23, 1976. She graduated from the State University of Moldova,

legal department, in 2001. Since 2002 Ms. Dumbraveanu worked at the Ministry of

Labor and Social Protection of Moldova, as consultant, head of Division for

Protection of Family and Child.

ANTONIO ESTACHE

Antonio Estache teaches Economics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.

He has a long experience in advising government around the world on public policies

issues. Most of his research and policy work focuses on fiscal policy, environmental

policy, infrastructure regulation and poverty impact evaluation of public policies and

projects. He has extensively published in peer reviewer journals.

KIICHIRO FUKASAKU, D.PHIL. Kiichiro Fukasaku is Head of Regional Desks at the OECD Development Centre. He

is managing three regional desks which monitor and analyze the development

performance of Africa, Latin America and Asia. His division annually publishes the

African Economic Outlook (in collaboration with the African Development Bank and

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa) and the Latin American Economic

Outlook. The first regional outlook for Black Sea and Central Asia was published in

June 2008. It is currently preparing a new regional outlook for Southeast Asia (due in

2010) in co-operation with the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. Mr. Fukasaku obtained

his Ph.D. in economics from University of Sussex, United Kingdom, in 1991.

CHORCHING GOH

Chorching Goh a native Malaysian, is a senior economist in Europe and Central Asia

region. She holds simultaneous BA and MA degrees, summa cum laude, from Yale

University, and a PhD in Economics from Harvard University. Upon graduation in

1999, she joined the World Bank as a Young Professional, working on health,

nutrition, and education at the Evaluation Unit. During 2001-2007, she focused on

poverty, inequality, and labor market issues in East Asia. She was one of the co-

authors of the World Development Report 2009 Reshaping Economic Geography.

RALPH DE HAAS

Ralph De Haas, Diplomat by training, Janos Herman entered the Hungarian Ministry

for Foreign Affairs in 1975. 1990-94 he was the Spokesman of the Hungarian MFA,

1992-94 also Government Spokesman on foreign affairs. 1994-98 was Ambassador

of Hungary in Athens. 1998-2001 he was the Permanent State Secretary of the

Hungarian MFA. Subsequently he served as Ambassador of Hungary to NATO,

joining the European Commission in 2005. Actually he is Deputy Political Director

and Principal Advisor for Regional Cooperation in the Directorate General for

External Relations.

OLEH HAVRYLYSHYN

Oleh Havrylyshyn completed a B.A. Hon. In Economics, Queen’s University, and a

Ph.D. in Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is currently

Visiting Scholar, Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, University of

Toronto and adjunct professor, Dept. of Economics, Queens’ University. He is a

regular participant of the Annual Dubrovnik Economic Conference, serves as member

of the Editorial Board, Comparative Economic Studies, and has been guest co-editor

of the special issue volume on Transition Economies, IMF Staff Papers. He was

Professor of Economics at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, and George

Washington University, and has been a Visiting Professor at Université Libre de

Bruxelles, University of Geneva, the Institute of World Economy, Kyiv. In his

academic career he first focused on international economics and development issues,

writing many articles and books on these topics, and serving as consultant on

development to the World Bank, UNDP, UNCTAD, and CIDA in Canada. He has

traveled extensively to over fifty countries and headed numerous development

missions and projects.

He has been a senior staff member of the IMF since 1996 including most recently as

Deputy Director, European II Department, responsible for operations in countries of

the former Soviet Union.

He has also written many monographs and journal articles. His most recent books

include Divergent Paths in Post-Communist Transformation: Capitalism for all or

Capitalism for the Few?, 2006; and Return to Growth In CIS Countries: Monetary

Policy and Macroeconomic Framework, 2006, co-edited with L. Vinhas de Souza.

And “Economic Restructuring sand Integration in Eastern Europe”, Nomos Publishers

2008, with Ruslan Ginsberg and Peter Havlik.

JANOS HERMAN Diplomat by training, Janos Herman entered the Hungarian Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1975. 1990-94 he was the Spokesman of the Hungarian MFA, 1992-94 also Government Spokesman on foreign affairs. 1994-98 was Ambassador of Hungary in Athens. 1998-2001 he was the Permanent State Secretary of the Hungarian MFA. Subsequently he served as Ambassador of Hungary to NATO, joining the European Commission in 2005. Actually he is Deputy Political Director and Principal Advisor for Regional Cooperation in the Directorate General for External Relations.

VASSIA TEODOROVA ILIEVA

Vassia Teodorova Ilieva graduated from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” in

1977. In 1978-1979 V. Ilieva was on Internship in Sofia City Court and in 1979 she

entered Sofia Bar Association and became a Member of the Council of Sofia Bar

Association. From August 1st 2008 V. Ilieva is a President of National Legal Aid

Bureau.

Specializations: 1991-Paris Bar Association; 1993-Rome–Institute for Legal

Development; 1994-Rome–Institute for Legal Development; 1995-Strasbourg-

European Courts of Human Rights.

Languages: French – French School -1963-1966; French High School - 1968-1973;

Language courses-Russian, German, English.

INDERMIT GILL

Indermit Gill is the Chief Economist of the Europe and Central Asia Region of the

World Bank and the Director of the World Development Report 2009: Reshaping

Economic Geography. He joined the World Bank in 1993 and has held various

positions; his most recent being the sector manager in the Poverty Reduction and

Economic Management Unit in the East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, where he

was also economic adviser to the chief economist. Previously, he had been the

economic adviser to the vice president of the Poverty Reduction and Economic

Management Unit, as well as head of the network. During 1997-99, he worked as a

senior country economist in the Brazil Country Management Unit. Upon his return to

Washington and between 2000 and 2002, he served as lead economist of human

development in the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office. His research

has been published in several books and academic journals. Indermit Gill has an M.A.

in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, and a Ph.D. in Economics from

the University of Chicago.

THEODORE KASSIMIS Originating from Mani in Lakonia and Sfakia in Krete, Mr. Theodore Kassimis was born in Corfu and studied economics and journalism in Athens. He is married to Roxane Vasiliadou and has three children Alexandra, Konstantine and Catherine. He was elected parliament member with the New Democracy (ND) party in the 2nd constituency of Athens for the first time in 1989, and since then, he has been elected seven consecutive times. PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITY As MP, he served as:

- - Deputy Minister of National Economy (1992-1993), competent for issues of international economic relations, foreign trade and tourism;

- Chairman of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs of the Hellenic Parliament (2004-2006);

- Chairman of the Economic, Commercial and Environmental Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (1996-2002);

- Vice-Chairman of the Economic, Commercial and Environmental Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (1995-1996);

- Member of the Standing Committee on Defense and Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Parliament (2000-2006);

- Greek Parliament Representative at the International Parliamentary Scout Movement;

- As Rapporteur for the New Democracy party, Mr. Kassimis tabled the draft law on the 2001 budget at the Hellenic Parliament, as well as a range of other important bills such as the 1989 bill regarding the operation of private radio stations and TV channels and the bill on Tourism.

- Representative of the Hellenic Parliament in the European Parliamentary Summit which decided the framework of the European Convention (2000)

He was a member of ONNED (the N.D. youth organization) between 1975-78, he was also responsible for the publication of the newspaper “Democratic Avant-Garde”. In 1984, he became head of the N.D. Press Office until 1989. Since 1995 he has been elected member of the Central Committee of the New Democracy. Upon his proposal, in 1990, the Greek flag was put in all the offices of the members of government and public officials. The Patriarch of Jerusalem promoted Mr. Kassimis to Grand Commander of the Order of Orthodox Crusaders of the Holy Sepulchre in recognition of his work. He has been awarded by the Republic of France, the Kingdom of Denmark, and the Republic of Iceland for his contribution to these countries’ relations with Greece. In 2007, he received the honorary citizenship of Kardamyla Chios upon the unanimous decision of the Municipal Council. Journalist by profession, he has been a member of the Union of Athens Daily Newspaper Writers since 1971 and for many

consecutive years, he was member of its Joint Council. He worked for various political and economic dailies and magazines, on the radio and for the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, (ERT S.A.). He was editor of the magazine Food and Beverage and one of the founders of the Hellenic Association of Food and Beverage Industries. He is a Scout Deputy Commander, and is today a member of the Union of Parliamentary Scouts. He is also a founding member of various NGOs (Centre for Scientific Consumer Protection and Information, Friends of Arts Chambers, Environmental and Athletic associations, etc.) See Mr. Kassimis’ personal website: www.kassimis.gr

ANDREY KONDAKOV

Vice Preident Banking

Russian, born in 1960 Andrey Kondakov was appointed Vice President Banking of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank in July 2007. He started his professional career as a research fellow, after completing his Ph.D in Development Economics. In 1988 he joined the International Economic Relations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he held progressively responsible positions before becoming its Director in 2002. Throughout his career, he was mainly in charge of the Russia’s participation in International Financial Institutions, investment and financial relations and regional economic cooperation. Mr. Kondakov served as a Russian G8 Foreign Affairs Sous-Sherpa and a member of the Governmental Commission of the Russian Federation on the Accession to the WTO and OECD. He headed Russian delegation to the accession talks with the Asian Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank.

PETKO KOVACHEV

Date of birth: 26 June 1966, Nationality: Bulgarian

Education: Master of Science in Economics (1991) in University of National and

Worldwide Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria (1986 - 1991)

Membership of professional and association's bodies:

• Member of the Board of Sofia Community Environmental Fund: 1994 – 2001

• Member of the Board of the National Environmental Fund: 2001 – 2002

• Member of the Board of CEIE: May 2004 –

• Member of the Executive Committee (Board) of EEB: September 2004 – September

2006

• Member of the Board of Bluelink Foundation: April 2005 – August 2008

• Member of the Board of Green Policy Institute: November 2006 –

Present position: Member of the Board and Executive Director of the Green Policy

Institute (GPI)

Other key qualifications: (Evaluation of investment projects; Environmental

Economics; Financial intermediary in environmental projects; Monitoring of IFIs and

EU Structural and Cohesion Funds)

Participation:

• in more than 100 international and national conferences and workshops on

environmental protection, sustainable development, environmental legislation of EU,

energy (nuclear, renewables, energy efficiency), climate change, transport, waste

management, EIA and SEA, etc.; the DG Environment – CEE/SEE NGOs Dialogue

(1999 – 2004).

• Co-founder of BlueLink Information Network (1995); Founder of BeleNE NPP!

National Coalition of NGOs (2003/04).

• Member of the Working Group for the preparation of the Operational Programme

Environment to the National development Plan: December 2004 – March 2007.

• Co-founder of Bulgarian NGOs Coalition for Sustainable Use of Structural Funds

2007-13 (2005).

DIMITROS MAVRAKIS

Dimitros Mavrakis, Prof. is the Director of the Energy Policy and Development

Centre (KEPA) of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and

Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Black Sea Regional Energy Centre

(BSREC) in Sofia.

His proposals and active involvement in the EU – Black Sea Conference (Bucharest

1996) initiated the Declaration for the establishment of a Regional Electricity Market

(REM) in S.E. Europe (Thessaloniki 1999) that constitutes the origin of the Energy

Community Treaty in S.E. Europe.

His main studies and activities are related with the development of regional energy

markets, energy interconnections, transcontinental energy corridors, implementation

of Kyoto protocol mechanisms and environmental concerns over marine oil

transportation in S.E. Europe, Black and Caspian Seas.

He is currently the coordinator of the PROMITHEAS network of Energy and Climate

Change policy institutes from S.E. Europe, Black Sea and Central Asia.

He is the editor of the “Energy View of the BSEC countries” that is published and

circulated under the auspices of Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization

(BSEC).

He is also the editor of the “Euro-Asian Journal of Sustainable Energy Development

Policy” bi-lingual scientific edition of PROMITHEAS network.

He has been appointed as member of the Advisory Group on Energy (AGE) for FP7

of EU.

He is currently promoting the establishment of a Regional Intermediate Energy

Organization (RIEO) among banks and energy stakeholders from the BSEC countries

in cooperation with international financing institutions.

DARIA POPOVA

Daria Popova, PhD, is a leading researcher at the Independent Institute for Social

Policy (Moscow). She is an expert on living standards and poverty reduction. In the

last few years her main research interests were in the area of child poverty. She has

co-authored two UNICEF reports on child protection related issues: New measures

supporting families with children: encouragement of the birthrate or improvement of

the living standards? (2007) and Child poverty in Russia: alarming trends and policy

options (2005). Currently she is taking part in the development of the framework for a

cross-national study of the most effective child poverty reduction policies in CEE/CIS

countries by request of UNICEF.

OLGA SIDOROVICH Educated as an economist, she started her carrier as a Research Fellow at the Institute for USA and Canada Studies and the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1992 together with a group of Russian scholars she founded the Moscow Public Science foundation and an international program on comparative constitutionalism in Eastern Europe. Since the same time is Chief-in-Editor of the Russian edition of the East European Constitutional Review – an independent legal and political quarterly. After the completion of the MBA in Public Policy in the School of Public Policy of the Birmingham University, she founded an independent think-tank organization – the Institute for Law and Public Policy. She is an Executive Secretary of the Moscow City government regulatory body – Council on Governance and Development. Spent a number of years in the the Experts Council of the Ethics Commission, State Duma (upper house of the Russian Parliament) and in the Advisory Commission of the Committee of the Council of Federation (lower house of the Russia Parliament), is a Steering Committee Member of Alfa-Bank Fellowship Programme.

Research Director of a number of projects, in particular Governance in Russia, Promoting Standards in Public Life in Russia. Last few years she has been developing and implemented a number of project related to the reform of the court system in Russia. Currently she runs three- year World Bank Project (funded by the Japanese Social Development Fund) on Access to Justice for poor and vulnerable groups in Russia, focusing on creating Legal Aid points in Perm Region and Leningrad region; rehabilitation of the juvenile offenders and monitoring of accessibility of the courts for poor in Russia.

THEODOROS SKYLAKAKIS

Theodore Skylakakis is General Secretary for International Economic Relations and

Development Cooperation of the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Special

Representative for Climate Change.

He served as Alternate Mayor of Athens from 2003 until February of 2006. He was

Vice Mayor for Financial issues as well as President of the Municipal Committee. He

was also responsible for the organization of the Municipality of Athens for the

Olympic Games during the period 2003-2004. He served as President of the

Organization of Tourist and Financial development of Athens (2005-2006) and was

also President of the Company “Dual Regeneration “S.A (2006), which is responsible

for the new stadium of Panathinaikos project.

He graduated with honors from the Economic Department of University of Athens in

1981.

He obtained his Master Degree (MBA) from the City University of London and his

diploma from the British Market Research Society in market research.

He served as advisor to the Prime Minister (1989), advisor to the Minister of National

Defense (1989-1990), advisor to the Prime Minister and Head of the Political

Planning and Communications Department of the Prime Minister (1990-1993).

He worked as a General Director of the Research Center E21 (1994-1999).

He also worked in the field of business communications (1985-2006).

Theodore Skylakakis was born on October of 1959, he is married to Eleni Papapanou,

lawyer, and has two daughters.

MILTIADIS VARVITSIOTIS Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis was born in Athens in 1969, and is the eldest son of long-serving politician Ioannis Varvitsiotis and Sophia Lanara. He graduated from Law School, University of Athens, and completed his postgraduate studies in International Relations at the Harvard University – Boston. His thesis was entitled: “Greece and the Great Powers 1910-1922”. As a lawyer he worked on Maritime and Commercial Law in the areas of Stock Exchange, Capital Markets and Telecommunications. His political activity began in the Youth Organization of New Democracy Party O.N.NE.D. In 1997 he was elected member of the Central Committee of New Democracy Party. In 2001-2004 he was appointed responsible for Mercantile Marine sector and in 2004-2007 and for Development sector for New Democracy Party. He has also participated in several conferences in Greece and USA for the Balkans and the security in the region. He was elected member of Parliament with the New Democracy Party for the Athens B’ precinct in 2000, 2004, 2007. He served as Chairman of the Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs and Defence (2007-2009) and as alternate Party’s leader representative in the Parliament (2006-2007). He was member of the Standing Committee of Production and Trade and the Environmental Permanent Committee. He was also regular member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and of the Western-European Union Assembly (2004-2009). In January 2009 he was appointed as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and he is responsible for the Economic Diplomacy and International Development Assistance. He speaks fluently English, Italian, French Link: http://www.mvarvitsiotis.gr e-mail: info@mvarvitsiotis.gr

WALTER WOLF

Walter WOLF works in the European Commission's DG Employment, Social Affairs

and Equal Opportunities, in the Social protection and social inclusion Directorate. His

key focus concerns social inclusion in the EU Candidate and pre-Candidate Countries

as well as in the countries of the Eastern Partnership of the European Neighbourhood

Policy.

GEORGE P. ZANIAS

George P. Zanias is currently Professor of Economics at the Athens University of

Economics and Business and, until recently, the Chairman of the Department of

International and European Economic Studies. He has also held academic posts at the

Universities of Oxford, Crete, and the Agricultural University of Athens. He has

studied economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business (B.Sc.), The

University of Reading (M.Sc.) and the Oxford University (Ph.D.), and has published

widely in international refereed journals and has edited collected volumes published

internationally. He has served as: The General Secretary of the Ministry of Economy

and Finance (2001-2004), Chairman and Scientific Director of KEPE (the National

Economic Institute of Greece), (1998-2001), Member of the Council of Economic

Advisors of the Ministry of Economy and Finance(2000-2001), Member of the

Executive Board of the Hellenic Exchanges(2000-2001). He has been used as an

expert by the European Commission, the World Bank and the United Nations.