The Government is proceeding with the establishment of a Special Secretariat for Mountainous Areas in the Presidency of the Government, creating for the first time a single institutional pillar for the planning and implementation of policies concerning the mountainous areas of Greece.
Government sources say that in a country like Greece, with a strongly mountainous character, this new structure comes to fill a long-standing institutional gap, strengthening the cohesion and perspective of mountain communities.
The mission of the Secretariat is to develop and implement an integrated national strategy for the mountainous areas of the country, aiming at their sustainable development, in terms of economic resilience, social cohesion and improvement of the daily life of their inhabitants. Through the horizontal planning of policies and the coordination of government actions, the Secretariat will ensure the creation of efficient synergies between stakeholders and the effective use of available resources and local capacities.
At the same time, the new structure will act as a hub of interconnection between the central state, local government, the academic community, civil society and the market, aspiring to be a catalyst for the activation of a dynamic ecosystem that will highlight and exploit the specific characteristics of mountainous areas, practically supporting the present and future of mountain communities.
The establishment of the Special Secretariat for Mountain Areas is a strategic choice of the government for a balanced, resilient and equitable development across the country, making mountain areas a key pillar of the National Strategy for Local and Regional Development.
The Secretariat is being undertaken by Dimitris Kyriazis, whose biography follows :
Dimitris Kyriazis was born in 1983 in Athens and comes from the mountainous region of Laconia. He graduated from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and holds a Master of Communication and Media Studies (M.A.) from Fordham University in New York.
He has extensive experience in the private sector as a business executive. He started his career in the banking industry in New York, has worked in advertising and media, and for the past ten years has served in positions of responsibility in multinational companies based in Athens.
His personal interest in the future of Greece’s mountainous lands has led him to develop a multifaceted activity that has actively contributed to shaping a contemporary narrative about mountainousness. Through his public presence and writing, he has given visibility to people who have chosen to live and create in mountainous and remote areas, as well as to mountain village revitalization projects, highlighting the importance of supporting mountain communities.
He served his military service in Evros as a non-commissioned officer of the Land Army. He is married and the father of two girls.
