2026 Roads to integration: Mapping the economic and environmental future of Ukrainian agriculture

Dr. Tinatin Akhvlediani is Head of the Enlargement Programme at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), where she specialises in EU enlargement and Eastern neighbourhood policies. Her regional expertise spans the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, as well as the South Caucasus.

She brings a strong academic and policy background, with extensive publications and active engagement in high-level policy debate. She actively contributes to major international fora such as the Munich Security Conference, Ukraine Recovery Conference and the Doha Forum and her analysis is regularly featured in leading international media, including BBC, Euronews, and Bloomberg.

Dr. Akhvlediani is also a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Tirana Campus), and has previously taught at the University of Warsaw and the International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University (ISET). She serves on the Governing Board of ISET, is a member of several high-level policy networks, and acts as a Young Ambassador for The HALO Trust, contributing to international efforts in post-conflict stabilisation and recovery.

In 2024 Tinatin was nominated by the U.S. Embassy to the EU as the EU’s emerging leader in the field of Foreign Policy and was invited to take part in the International Visitor Leadership Program run by the U.S. Department of State. In 2023, Dr. Akhvlediani was recognised among the most prominent and promising women in the EU, sharing this distinction with notable figures such as the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. In 2020, she earned a place on Forbes Georgia’s “30 Under 30” list, highlighting her exceptional contributions to the field of social sciences.

Professor Dr. Alfons Balmann has been Director at IAMO and Head of the Department Structural Change since 2002. He studied Agricultural Economics at the University of Göttingen, Germany, where he also earned his doctoral degree. Afterwards he joined the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, where he received his Habilitation in 2000. Further affiliations were substitute professorships at University of Applied Sciences Neubrandenburg, Germany, and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Germany. In 2003 he received a joint appointment as full professor at the Faculty of Natural Science III of the MLU. He also is co-opted professor at the Law and Economics Faculty of the MLU.

In addition, Prof. Dr. Alfons Balmann is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Agricultural Policy, Food and Consumer Health Protection at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Within the framework of the DLG (German Agricultural Society), he is involved as Chairperson of the Rural Development Committee, a member of the Country Working Group for Eastern Europe and the General Committee.

Belis is a project leader and senior scientist at the Clean Air and Climate Unit of the JRC Directorate C Energy, Transport and Climate.

He developed his PhD work on environmental and climatic long-term trends at the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (1994-1997) and continued his post-doctoral activity at the Federal Polytechnic of Zurich and the University of Bern (Switzerland).

Mr Belis has long-term experience in monitoring and modelling atmospheric pollution in urban and natural ecosystems for the development of pollution abatement measures. His studies include the identification of emission sources (source apportionment) and the analysis of the impacts of air pollution on health and vegetation.

Since 2022 Mr Belis is member of the WHO global Air Pollution and Health Technical Advisory Board and coordinated European-wide scientific networks. He led the working group on source apportionment of the Forum for Air quality Modelling in Europe- FAIRMODE (2012-2019) and was Convenor of the CEN/TC 264 /Working Group 44 on source apportionment (2016-2019).

From 2013 to 2018 he contributed to and coordinated the JRC scientific support to the EU Strategy for the Danube and other macro-regions in the field of air quality. He currently leads a JRC project on environment and climate in the Enlargement region (SCENARIO) and co-leads a portfolio of 16 projects focused on providing scientific support to the external dimension of the EU policy (GLOBSCIENCE).

Mr Belis authored more than 150 publications including peer-reviewed scientific papers, book chapters and technical/policy reports. He was leading author of the UNEP flagship report Global Environmental Outlook – 7 (GEO-7) published in December 2025.

Paulo Roberto de Medeiros do Nascimento Cabral is a Portuguese politician of the Aliança Democrática, who was elected member of the European Parliament in 2024.

He served as chief of staff to the President of the Government of the Azores from 2020 to 2022, and was advisor for Azorean affairs and Energy at the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union from 2022 to 2024.

Born on April 10, 1974, in Drohobych, Lviv region, Ukraine, Vsevolod Chentsov graduated with a degree in Law from the prestigious Ivan Franko National University of Lviv in 1996, launching a distinguished career in Ukrainian diplomacy and international law that spans nearly three decades.

He began his diplomatic career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, serving in the Legal Department from 1996 to 1997. He then spent five years at the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Turkey (1997–2002), progressing through the ranks from Third to First Secretary. Returning to Kyiv, he served as Head of the Treaties Unit and subsequently Deputy Director of the Legal Department, before being appointed Deputy Director of the Legal Division of the MFA of Ukraine by 2005.

In 2006, he moved into a senior diplomatic posting as Minister-Counselor at the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Poland, before taking up the role of Deputy Head of Mission of Ukraine to the European Union (2007–2011). He then served as Director of the EU Department of the MFA of Ukraine from 2011 to 2017, cementing his expertise in European affairs.

From 2017 to 2021, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, concurrently representing Ukraine at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Since January 2017, he has also served as Co-Agent of Ukraine before the International Court of Justice in the landmark case concerning the application of international conventions on the suppression of terrorism financing and racial discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation).

On 25 August 2021, he was appointed Head of the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community.

Andrii Dykun is Chairman of the Public Union “Ukrainian Agri Council” (UAC), Ukraine’s leading agricultural associations representing small and medium-sized farmers. He also serves as President of the Association of Milk Producers of Ukraine.

Following the Revolution of Dignity, in 2014 Mr. Dykun served as Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, contributing to the implementation of key reforms in the agricultural sector. Since leaving public office, he has focused on strengthening Ukraine’s agricultural community through professional associations, advocacy, and farmer support initiatives.

Mr. Dykun is the founder of several educational initiatives aimed at developing the next generation of agricultural leaders, including the Ukrainian Agrarian Lyceum, the youth organisation “Future Farmers of Ukraine”, and the Ukrainian Children’s Academy. He also founded the international charitable foundation SaveUA, which since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion has supported Ukraine’s Defence Forces and coordinated humanitarian assistance across the agricultural sector.

He holds an MBA from the Baltic Business School at the University of Kalmar and a Master’s degree in Management from Uman State Agrarian University.

Dr. Taras Gagalyuk is a Senior Researcher at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) and holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. His research lies at the intersection of agricultural science, economics, policy analysis, and strategic management, with a focus on enterprise-level decisions and strategies, and their interactions with society, policies, markets, and the environment. The geographical focus of his research is primarily on countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He is a co-founder of the International Research Group Ukraine at IAMO, a Team Leader at the International Competence Center on Large-Scale Agriculture (funded by the Leibniz Association), and a co-editor of Ukraine Analysen | Länder Analysen. His publication record includes more than 30 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and around 60 publications in policy- and practice-oriented periodicals. Since 2016, Dr. Gagalyuk has secured approximately €1.5 million in third-party project funding. Previously, he served as Head of the Analytical Department at the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club in Kyiv, a long-term expert for the German-Ukrainian Agricultural Policy Dialogue, and a consultant to the World Bank in Washington, DC, USA. Dr. Gagalyuk is a member of the International Association of Agricultural Economists and the European Association of Agricultural Economists.

Christoph Konrad Gilgen has been responsible for bilateral relations with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the countries of the Western Balkans in the EU Enlargement Area of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) since 2021.

After graduating from the Lilienthal Gymnasium in Anklam, he studied Ukrainian studies, Slavic studies, political science and public law in Greifswald, St. Petersburg and Drohobych.

From 2008 to 2014, Gilgen worked in the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, including as head of the Ukraine Economic and Employment Development Programme, in the Agricultural Industry Working Group and headed the image film project "Germany – Ukraine. New Markets.".

From 2014 to 2021, Gilgen worked for BVVG Bodenverwertungs- und -verwaltungs GmbH as project manager of the foreign office and coordinated the projects "Consulting on the Development of an Effective and Transparent Land Market in Ukraine" and "Assistance in Development of an Open and Transparent Agricultural Land Market in Ukraine" (EU-Twinning).

At the same time, from 2016 to 2018, he was involved in the project management of "Ukraine Calling – Ukraine Competence in Dialogue", which was carried out by the European University Viadrina together with the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the German Association of Ukrainists.

Gilgen is a member of the Working Group for Projects in Ecology, Agriculture and Regional Development in Eastern Europe (APOLLO e. V.).

Oleh Nivievskyi is a  Professor of Economics at the Kyiv School of Economics and a policy advisor with more than 20 years of experience. His research and policy work focus on agri-food and transportation markets, local governance and decentralization reform, the economics of conflict, and Ukraine’s European integration. He has contributed to several landmark reforms in Ukraine, including the liberalization of the agricultural land market. Oleh earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics and Applied Statistics from the University of Göttingen.

Dr Janez Potočnik graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. After a successful career starting in 1989 in Slovenia as a researcher at the Institute of Economic Research, Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (1994), he was appointed Head of the Negotiating Team for the Accession of Slovenia to the EU (1998). He was also Director of Government Office for European Affairs (2000), Minister Councillor at the Office of the Prime Minister (2001) and Minister responsible for European Affairs (2002). In 2004 he joined the European Commission, first as "shadow Commissioner for Enlargement and then as Commissioner responsible for Science and Research. In 2010 Dr Potočnik became Commissioner for Environment. His term ended in November 2014 and he was appointed as a Co-Chair of UN Environment International Resource Panel and was also appointed as a Chairman of The Forum for the Future of Agriculture and RISE Foundation and a Member of the European Policy Centre's Advisory Council. From April 2016 he is also the Partner in SYSTEMIQ. More information Twitter – @JanezPotocnik22 Facebook – potocnikjanez LinkedIn - janez-potocnik-872470a7

Elsa Régnier is a research fellow at IDRRI working on the political and budgetary dynamics specific to the European agricultural sector. Prior to joining IDDRI, Elsa worked as a research assistant at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) and at the University of Paris 2. Elsa holds a master from the Paris School of International Affairs (Sciences Po Paris) and a master's degree in environmental studies from the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS).

Taras Vysotskyi is the Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine, a position he has held since July 30, 2025. He has more than 15 years of experience in Ukraine’s agricultural sector, public administration, and policy development.

Vysotskyi began his professional career in 2006 as a Manager at PP “Zdolbunivvetpostach”, where he worked until 2010. He later served as an Agricultural Markets Expert at NIKA PP LLC from 2011 to 2013. In February 2013, he joined the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club Association (UCAB) as an Agricultural Markets Expert and was subsequently appointed Director General of the organization in December 2014, leading it until March 2019.

In March 2019, Vysotskyi entered public service as First Deputy Head of the Cherkasy Regional State Administration. Later that year, in September 2019, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, where he served until May 2021.

From May 2021 to July 2025, he held the position of First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, playing a key role in shaping agricultural policy and supporting the sector during a period of significant economic and wartime challenges.

Since July 2025, Vysotskyi has served as Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine, continuing his work on economic development, agricultural policy, and environmental governance within the Ukrainian government.