Sofia Bournou joined BusinessEurope's International Relations department in July 2011. She is responsible for EU-Russia relations and relations between the EU and neighbouring countries (Eastern Partnership, South-Mediterranean and accession countries). She is also responsible for market access policies, including international investment policy, raw materials policies and international public procurement instruments. Her responsibilities also include export controls and sanctions regimes as well as WTO issues. Before joining BusinessEurope, she completed a traineeship at the European Parliament Committee on Regional Development (September 2010 – February 2011) and, as a part of her bachelor studies, internships at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate for Latin America and the Caribbean (September - December 2007) and the Ministry of Development, Section for Energy (January 2008 – April 2008).  She graduated in 2010 from the London School of Economics with a Master of Science in local economic development and from the University of Pireaus in 2008 with a Bachelor degree in international and European studies, major in international and European economics. Sofia is Greek and speaks English and French fluently.