Irini Piki was born in Nicosia in 1973. In 1974, as a result of the Turkish invasion, she moved with her parents and siblings to Athens, where she spent her school years, graduating from the Moraitis School. She then studied in the UK, first in Economics (BSc Regional Science - Economics and Human Geography) at the University of Reading (UK), and then in Environmental Economics at University College London (UCL) where she obtained an MSc Environmental and Natural Resources Economics.
She has served the Republic of Cyprus as a career technocrat since 1997, in positions of responsibility, with a broad portfolio that includes economic, environmental, regional policy, reform and investment issues, as well as European issues.
She has served the Republic of Cyprus as a career technocrat since 1997, in positions of responsibility, with a broad portfolio that includes economic, environmental, regional policy, reform and investment issues, as well as European issues. Her professional career started in the private sector in environmental economics. In 1997 she started her career in the Civil Service with her appointment to the Planning Office (now the General Directorate for Development, Ministry of Finance), where she dealt with environmental issues, natural resources and was a member of the negotiating team for Cohesion Policy issues during Cyprus' accession negotiations to the EU (2002-2004). She was a member of the Cohesion Policy Planning Unit until 2009, when she was selected to staff the Secretariat of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU (Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus). At the same time, in 2014-2016 he participated in the Ad Hoc Group for the Preparation of the Implementation of the acquis communautaire, in the context of the Cyprus negotiations.
Since March 2018 he was Head of the Office of the Minister of Finance, Mr. Harris Georgiades, while in December 2019 he took over as Head of the Strategy, Coordination and Communication Directorate in the same Ministry. In March 2021, she was promoted to the position of Director of Finance, while in October 2022 she became Head of the Directorate for Economic Policy and European Affairs.
She has served on the Boards of Invest Cyprus (CIPA), the Research and Innovation Foundation, the Cyprus Standards Organisation and the Council for Economy and Competitiveness.
She has been a member of the Boards of Directors of Invest Cyprus (CIPA), the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation, the Cyprus Standards Organisation and the Council for Economy and Competitiveness. She has also represented Cyprus in a number of EU committees on Economic and Cohesion Policy issues.
She is married to George G. Papageorgiou and has two daughters.
(RM/SX/EP)
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