US ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley described her stint in Malta as “a wonderful” experience as she bade farewell to journalists this morning.
She is the longest-serving US ambassador, having been here for more than three-and-a-half years. The standard term is three years.
In a short address at a farewell breakfast she also thanked Malta’s youth for being active in trying to make the country a better place.
Ms Abercrombie-Winstanley presented her credentials in May 2012, at a time when turmoil in Libya was on an ascendency after Muammar Ghaddafi’s overthrow. Four months later the US consulate in Benghazi was attacked and diplomat Christopher Stevens was murdered.
She will leave Malta this week to take up a post in Washington DC.