Androulla Kaminara was born in Cyprus in 1957. Cypriot by birth, Kaminara also holds British and Greek citizenship.[7] She is married. She takes a keen interest in arts and culture. Her hobbies include swimming and scuba diving and holds a captain's license for sailing.[11] She can speak Greek, English, French, Spanish and Turkish.
Member of Cabinet - Greek Commissioner Responsible for Transport, Energy and SME issues Christos Papoutsis (January 2000 - July 2000)[7]
Member of Cabinet - Danish Commissioner Responsible for Development Cooperation Poul Nielson (August 2000 - July 2003)[7]
Head of Unit - European Commission Directorate General - EuropeAid - Geographic Coordination for 44 West and Central African and Caribbean Countries (July 2003 - July 2006)[7]
Director for Quality of Operations of the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships|Directorate General - EuropeAid (July 2006 - April 2008)[12][13]
Head of the European Commission Representation in Cyprus (April 2008 - March 2012)[12][13][14]
During her tenure as an Ambassador, Kaminara has been working for the promotion of EU-Pakistan Business & Trade. She launched an EU – Pakistan Business Forum,[16] a series of one-day conferences to highlight both the potential of Pakistani SME's and the opportunities of the European Single Market as export destination. The EU-Pakistan Business Forum raised awareness about the European Single Market among Pakistani SMEs and to discuss the experiences and challenges SMEs are facing to be part of global supply chains and to export to Europe. During the three editions in Islamabad[17][18], Lahore[19][20] and Karachi[21][22] the Business Forum focused on a range of sectors, such as IT, gems and jewelry, surgical goods, auto-parts among others.
During her tenure as Ambassador, Kaminara also highlighted the importance of Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP+).[23] She actively engaged with Pakistani lawmakers, the business community as well as journalists and the wider public to underline GSP+ being a central pillar of the EU-Pakistan relations. Highlighting the benefits Pakistan has drawn from the GSP+ system since Pakistan obtained the trade preference in 2014,[24] she underlined the untapped potential for Pakistan.
In her efforts to promote Interfaith Harmony, Kaminara initiated, a series of interfaith roundtables, in collaboration with Maulana Abdul Khadir Azad, Grand Imam of Badshahi Mosque, with the first one taking place in Islamabad in December 2020[25][26] and last one in July 2021.[27] This initiative brought together representatives and experts with very different backgrounds: religious leaders and human rights activists and they all shared the objective to advance interfaith harmony and the respect of the freedom of religion and belief.[28]
Under her ambassadorship, the EU cooperated closely with the Economic Affairs Division on donor coordination, streamlining of programme approval procedures and other topics relevant to the cooperation of the Government of Pakistan with Development Partners. The EU signed five financing agreements in 2020–2021, worth EUR 141 M, with the Government of Pakistan, related to public finance management, rule of law, education, water management and poverty reduction, ensuring funds commitments in a timely manner. Consultations were held at federal and provincial levels in 2020 and 2021 on the future multi-annual indicative programme for bilateral EU-Pakistan cooperation from 2021 to 2027, paving the way for funding of the coming seven years.[29]
Kaminara was the chair of the Pakistan chapter of the Core Group - Support Platform for the Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR) and is spearheading the multilateral Core Group platform on policy and operational dialogue to foster inclusive policies and resilience building measures for Afghan Refugees in Pakistan.[30]
Awards and recognition
International Peace Award
International Peace Award
On 24 November 2021, Androulla Kaminara was awarded the International Peace Award in recognition of her services for the cause of interfaith harmony during the International Interfaith Peace Conference[31] in Islamabad organized by the Interfaith Council for Peace and Harmony and Majlis Ulema-e-Pakistan with financial support by the EU Delegation. The award was presented by President of PakistanDr. Arif Alvi, co-convener of the conference. [32][33][34]
Global Ambassadors Award
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib presenting award to Androulla Kaminara in the fourth Global Ambassadors Award Ceremony 2021
On 25 November 2021, Androulla Kaminara received an award acknowledging the services of Foreign Diplomats in Pakistan.[35] The award was presented by the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib in the fourth Global Ambassadors Award Ceremony 2021 organized by The Diplomatic Insight Group. Androulla Kaminara was recognized for her work to promote the political, economic, cultural, educational, people-to-people contacts, trade, and development works in Pakistan. As well as her close coordination with Government of Pakistan to further strengthen the EU-Pakistan Relations. During the ceremony, Global Ambassadors Awards were also given to the Ambassadors of the Republic of Iraq, of the Kingdom of Morocco, of Romania, of the Federal Republic of Somalia, of the Kingdom of Spain, and of the Republic of Yemen, as well as the WHO Country Representative in Pakistan, the Consul General of Moldova, the Agricultural Commissioner of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, and the Third Secretary Embassy of Kazakhstan to Pakistan.[36]
^"Associated Press of Pakistan (APP)". Pakistan promoting interfaith harmony to ensure world peace: President. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
^Kaminara, Androulla (July 2015). "The gender dimensions of energy policy"(PDF). South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX) – via St Antony’s College, University of Oxford.
