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Politics & DiplomacyOlga Zykova is a 2023 Millennium fellow with the Atlantic Council Millennium Leadership Program and the deputy minister of finance of Ukraine since her appointment in May 2022.
As deputy minister, Zykova is responsible for the development and implementation of state policy in the area of cooperation with foreign governments and international financial organizations.
Prior to this post, Zykova was the head of the Department on International Relations and Analytics at the ministry from February 2019 to May 2022. From 2018 to 2019, she was an advisor on international affairs at the state institution UkraineInvest and advisor at the Patronage Service of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine. Also in 2019, Zykova completed a fellowship at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, DC, under the James S. Denton Transatlantic Fellowship.
From 2015 to 2016, she worked as an advisor to the deputy minister of finance of Ukraine for European integration. In 2016 she held the position of advisor to the first deputy minister of finance of Ukraine. At the same time, she was a senior lecturer in the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and Open International University of Human Development “Ukraine.”
Zykova started her career in 2008, holding senior positions in asset management companies, with coverage of investment policy issues.
Zykova has received multiple awards, grants, and scholarships. In 2020, she was awarded the State Honorary Letter of Gratitude by the prime minister of Ukraine. Zykova also received grants and scholarships to study at several international programs, including the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education Program “Emerging Leaders”; NATO Professional Development Program; New Security Leaders Programme (Warsaw Security Forum); Warsaw Euro-Atlantic Summer Academy (College of Europe), Executive Programme in European and International Affairs (Vienna Diplomatic Academy), and Berlin Summer School in Social Sciences (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin).
Zykova graduated with honors from the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, where she studied international economic relations. She also received a PhD in economics, with a focus on the global economy and international economic relations.
Zykova speaks English and German.