▶
COGITO Talks… Lean on Me: Three pillars for rural prosperity
account_balance
OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
business
OECD
place
Paris
The OECD Report for Regional Policy for Greece Post-2020 (https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/regional-policy-for-greece-post-2020_cedf09a5-en.html) revealed that 32% of the population lives in predominantly rural regions which is significantly higher than the OECD average share of rural population which is around 25%. Of those living in predominantly rural regions (~3.4 million people), roughly 3 million live in remote rural regions meaning Greece has one of the largest shares in this demographic among OECD countries.
Recorded live from the OECD Rural Development Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Greek officials Vasiliki Pantelopoulou (Secretary-General of the Partnership Agreement) and Christos Kyrkoglou (General Director of Monitoring and Implementation) explain Greece’s approach to rural urban development under the European Union’s Cohesion Policy and the role of Integrated Territorial Investments (ITIs). They describe their respective roles in coordinating and implementing programmes financed through the Partnership Agreement, stressing the importance of integrating urban and rural policies. Sit back, relax and take a listen!
Vasiliki Pantelopoulou is a lawyer and a Member of Athens Bar Association. She graduated from School of Law of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and holds two postgraduate degrees (LL.M. in Commercial and Business Law from East Anglia University, U.K., and MSc in Business Administration for Law Practitioners from Alba Graduate Business School, The American College of Greece, Greece). She is a Member of the Board of the Hellenic Development Bank. She has worked for twenty years as an in-house lawyer at STASY – Urban Rail Transport S.A., specialized in the field of public procurement (Law 4412/2016). Since April 2023, she has been the Director of Legal Services at Metavasi S.A. – Hellenic Company for Just Transition S.A. She is a Member of investing Committees such as EQUIFUND I & II, TEPIX III Loan Fund and others.
Christos Kyrkoglou is the General Director of Monitoring and Implementation for the ESPA, which operate under the Secretary General.
As Public Affairs and Communications Manager, Shayne engages with policy issues concerning SMEs, tourism, culture, regions and cities to name a few. He has worked on a number of OECD campaigns including “Going Digital”, "Climate Action" and "I am the future of work".
****
To learn more, visit OECD Latin American Rural Development Conference https://www.oecd.org/en/events/2025/11/oecd-latin-american-rural-development-conference.html and the OECD's work on Rural Development https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/policy-issues/rural-development.html. Find out more on these topics by reading Reinforcing Rural Resilience https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/reinforcing-rural-resilience_7cd485e3-en.html and Rural Innovation Pathways https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/rural-innovation-pathways_c86de0f4-en.html.
To learn more about the OECD, our global reach, and how to join us, go to https://www.oecd.org/en/about.html
To keep up with latest at the OECD, visit https://www.oecd.org/
Get the latest OECD content delivered directly to your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletters: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/newslet...
