Ms Eftychia Bacopoulou assumed her duties as the new Secretary General of the Business Council of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC BC) on July 1st, 2009, after being elected, unanimously, at the 36th meeting of the BSEC BC Board of Directors, last October, in Tirana. She is the fourth Secretary General and the first woman to hold that position since the organization was established.

Ms Bacopoulou said she was honoured by her election and was aware of her responsibilities. Outlining her views, she praised the work done so far by her predecessors for over than 15 years and noted that her vision is “an economically integrated and developed BSEC region”. She is also looking forward to fruitfully working together with the other bodies of the BSEC Organization in order to enhance the regional cooperation and promote the economic development of the area.

The new Secretary General also stressed the need for the BSEC BC to orient itself towards closer cooperation with all the business communities representing the twelve BSEC Member States, namely: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine, with the view to coordinate all actions for promoting the individual and collective initiatives of the enterprises and companies directly involved in the process of economic cooperation. In this respect, partnerships with the European Union and other international organizations will be actively sought.

Ms Bacopoulou belongs to the economic diplomacy service of the Greek Foreign Ministry. Prior to joining the BSEC BC, she has also served in Brussels (1998-2001, Permanent Representation of Greece to the EU), Sofia (2001-2004, Greek Embassy), Athens (2004-2007, MFA, Directorate for economic relations with SE Europe, CIS countries & BSEC). At the time of her election and before taking her office, she was serving as Deputy Head of the Office for Economic and Commercial Affairs of the Greek Embassy in Moscow. She studied Law at the University of Athens and made postgraduate studies in European law and International Business Law in Paris and Athens. Prior entering the MFA service, Ms Bacopoulou pursued a career as attorney-at-law.