Archives

Caspar Veldkamp is Ambassador of the Netherlands to Greece since 2015. The Embassy initiated a startup incubator in Athens, called Orange Grove.

He was ambassador to Israel from 2011-2015. Previously, he worked in high-level positions in The Hague on European affairs and international financial institutions. He was embassy counselor in Washington and private secretary of the Dutch minister for European Affairs. He has been a Dutch delegation member to many EU ministerial and summit meetings. He worked in various diplomatic positions in The Hague and Warsaw from 1992. Before joining the diplomatic service, he worked for US senator Richard G. Lugar in Washington and served as a reserve officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy.

He graduated from Erasmus University (Rotterdam) and Leiden University, studied at Indiana University and Georgetown University and followed executive programs at Harvard University and INSEAD.

Ivelina Vasileva is chairperson of the Environment and Water Committee and deputy chairperson of the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds at the National Assembly in the 44th National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria.

She served as minister of environment and water from November 2014 to January 2017 in the second government of prime-minister Boyko Borisov.

Ms Vasileva was a member of the 42nd and 43rd National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria (May 2013 – November 2014). Previously, she served as deputy minister of environment and water in the first government of Mr. Boyko Borisov (2009-2013).

Before that, she served as deputy mayor of EU integration and ecology in the municipality of Burgas (2007-2009). She is a specialist with rich experience in the management of European programs and projects.

Carrier

2017–Present      Vice-president of the Danube Commission, Permanent representative of the Republic of Moldova to the Danube Commission

2016–Present      Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Moldova to Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Croatia, Republic of Slovenia and Danube Commission

2014–2016           Executive director the Institute for Social Progress and Democracy

2013–2015           Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of  Council of Europe

2011–2014           Member of the Parliament of Republic of Moldova, Committee for Culture, Education, Research, Youth, Sports, and Mass Media

2009–2011           Deputy minister, Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Moldova

2005–2009           Member of the Parliament of Republic of Moldova, Committee for Human Rights

2005–2009           Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe; member of the Political Affairs Committee

2003–2005           International secretary of the National Youth Council of Moldova

2003–2004           Project coordinator – “Facilitation of credit access for young entrepreneurs via informing about micro financial/financial opportunities in Moldova” USAID│BIZPRO Moldova

Studies

1998–2002           University degree in political sciences

State University of Moldova, department of International Relations, Political Sciences and Public Administration, Chișinău (Moldova)

2002–2003           Master degree in political sciences

State University of Moldova, department of International Relations, Political Sciences and Public Administration, Chișinău (Moldova)

Master degree in political management

Post – Academic School “Ovidiu Sincai”, București (Romania)

Christos Stylianides is the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management since November 1^st, 2014.  On October 24^th, 2014 he was appointed by the European Council EU Ebola Coordinator.

He was elected Member of the European Parliament in the May 2014 European elections where he served until October 31^st2014. He was twice appointed Government Spokesperson of the Republic of Cyprus (in 2013-2014 and in 1998-1999).  He was responsible for the management of the Government’s communication strategy and was the head of the Government’s centralized Press and Information Office.

During the period 2006-2013 he served as a Member of the Cyprus House of Representatives (elected in 2006 and 2011).  During his tenure he served as Vice-Chair of the Committee on Foreign and European Affairs (2011-2013) and member of the Committee on European Affairs, the Committee of Internal Affairs and the Committee of Employment and Social Affairs (2006-2011).  Between 2006-2011 he was a member of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and he was elected Member of its Bureau in 2012.

George Stathakis is the current Minister of Environment and Energy. He has previously served as Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism (September 2015-November 2016), Minister of Economy, Infrastructure, Maritime Affairs and Tourism (January 2015-August 2015).

He has been member of the Parliament with the SYRIZA party since 2012. Mr Stathakis was Professor of Political Economy at the University of Crete (1988-2012) and also Visiting Professor at the Centre of European Studies, Harvard University and at the Centre for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, City University of New York. He studied Economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business and holds a PhD in Economics from Newcastle University, United Kingdom.

Geoffrey R. Pyatt, a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Career Minister, was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic in September 2016. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine from 2013-2016, receiving the State Department’s Robert Frasure Memorial Award in recognition of his commitment to peace and alleviation of human suffering in eastern Ukraine.

Previously, Ambassador Pyatt was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs from 2010-2013. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna, Austria from 2007 to 2010. He also served at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India as Deputy Chief of Mission from 2006 to 2007 and as Political Counselor from 2002 to 2006. Ambassador Pyatt served as Economic Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2002 and as Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Lahore, Pakistan from 1997 to 1999.

Since joining the Foreign Service in 1989, he has also served on the National Security Council staff, on the staff of Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott and at posts in Honduras and India.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he worked with The Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank that brings together leading citizens of the Americas.

Born in 1964 in Belgrade and graduated on the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Belgrade.

He was professional perfected and gained early experience working in a construction company in America. He graduated on the University of Davis on the field of construction and environmental protection. He has a master’s degree at the University of Chicago in the field of finance (MBA).

He managed project preparation, financial constructing and the realization of investments in the field of water supply, wastewater and solid waste, financed from international cooperation of Republic of Serbia and Federal Republic of Germany.

He coordinates the financing of infrastructure project through investment banks and he is responsible for monitoring implantation of the projects. He has passed a professional state test for work in state organs of The Republic of Serbia as well as a professional test in the field of construction.

Mrs Elena Kountoura was born in Athens and was member of the Greek National Track and Field Team, holding numerous national records, international titles and awards.

She graduated from the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science/University of Athens. She speaks English, French and Spanish.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER

1984 -1996: International Career in the Fashion Industry

1996 -2003: Magazine Editor in Greece

POLITICAL CAREER

Elected six times as member of the Hellenic Parliament

2004 -2007: Member of the Hellenic Parliament (Nea Dimokratia Party) elected in Athens

In the elections of 2009 she was re-elected as MP of the Hellenic Parliament.

She continued her political carrier as independent MP.

In 2012, she was the first to join the Parliamentary Group of the newly established Movement “ANEXARTITOI HELLINES” (“Independent Greeks”).

She  was elected first in the Αthens A’ district with the “Independent Greeks” ballot, in all four last national elections, two in 2012 and two in 2015.

She had served as Secretary of the Movement’s Parliamentary Group and had been assigned with the overview of Tourism Affairs.

From June to December 2014 she was a member of the Greek Parliamentary Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a member of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons and alternate member of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination.

In the coalition government of SYRIZA-ANEL formed in January 2015, with Prime Minister Mr. Alexis Tsipras, she was handed the portfolio of tourism, as the Alternate Minister of Economy, Development & Tourism, and in November 2016 she was appointed Minister of Tourism.

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES AND VOLUNTARISM 

Minister Kountoura is President of the “EUROPA DONNA HELLAS” organization raising awareness for the prevention of breast cancer and better health care for cancer patients.

She has been honored for her support in spreading the values of Paralympic Volunteerism in Greece.

In 2007 she was honored by the Greek Government as a Goodwill Ambassador for Social Volunteering.