John Paul Grech and James Calleja have been appointed permanent secretaries in the ministries of foreign affairs and education, respectively.

Dr Grech has served within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1990. He has occupied senior positions within the ministry, including those related to European and Mediterranean security issues.

For the last 20 years, he has participated in numerous international conferences and formed part of high level delegations in Europe, the Middle East and the Arab world.

He has served abroad, inter alia, as deputy permanent representative in Malta’s Permanent Mission in Vienna and Ambassador of Malta to Germany and Poland.

He has also been appointed special envoy of the Government of Malta on promoting a ministerial conference between the EU-League of Arab States to be held in Malta as well as promoting Malta as the seat for the Union for the Mediterranean.

Ambassador Grech received his post-graduate studies in Oxford University, has a Masters degree from the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies and a Doctorate in International Relations.

He is married to Margot and has three sons: Jonathan, Nathaniel and Matthias. He is an ardent fine arts enthusiast.

Dr Calleja is a graduate of the University of Malta, obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Education followed by a Doctoral Degree in Pedagogy from the University of Padua and a PhD from the University of Bradford.

He joined the civil service as a teacher in 1981 and held managerial and research positions at the Foundation for International Studies (1986-1995), the United Nations Institute on Ageing (1995-1998), the Ministry of Economic Services (1998-2001), the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (2001-2004) and the European Training Foundation in Turin. In 2005 he spearheaded the Malta Qualifications Council were he serves as Chief Executive.

Dr Calleja led the process to set up the Malta Qualifications Framework and its referencing to the European Qualifications Framework. He represents Malta on the Bologna and the Copenhagen processes and is a member of the EQF Advisory Board of the EC and of the CEDEFOP Governing Board.

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