Relations with Malta
Diplomatic relations between the Order and Malta were established on the 27th June 1966 with Dino Marrajeni presenting his credentials as the first Ambassador of the Order to Malta. A year before that, the then Grand Master Fra’ Angelo de Mojana had paid a State Visit to the newly independent Malta and formally set up the Maltese Association of the Order whose first President was His Grace the Archbishop of Malta Mgr. Michael Gonzi. A diabetes clinic and a blood bank were set up a year later and a Postal Agreement signed in 1971 recognizing the validity of the Order’s stamps in Malta followed by a second agreement in 1975.
In 1991 a first Agreement was signed between the Order and the Republic of Malta following many years of negotiations concerning the Upper Part of Fort St Angelo, where restoration works financed by the Order were initiated. This culminated in 1998 with the signing of another agreement whereby the Government of Malta granted the Upper Part of the historical Fort to the Sovereign Order for a period of 99 years. This was ratified in the year 2000.
There have been several State Visits by the Grand Masters of the Order to Malta. Aside from that mentioned above by HMEH Fra’ Angelo de Mojana, a second State Visit by HMEH Fra’ Andrew Bertie took place in May 1989 and a third by HMEH Fra’ Matthew Festing in April 2015.
There has been an International Gathering of the Knights in Malta in 1998 for the Ninth Centenary Celebrations and various seminars and symposia held over the years on the island such as Conferences of the European Hospitallers (1993 and 2008); gathering of Members of the Alliance of the Orders of St John of Jerusalem in 1996; the Sovereign Order’s International Strategy Seminar in 2004; commemorations of the 450th anniversary of the Great Siege in 2015; the Hospitallers in 2016.
Over the years there have been many High-Level Exchanges of both the High Charges of the Order to the |Republic of Malta and from various Presidents, Prime Ministers and various Ministers to the Grand Magistry of the Order of Malta in Rome. Relations continue to be excellent and the Sovereign Order is held in high regard by all the successive governments elected to lead the country.
