Ambassador John Paul Grech will be appointed permanent secretary at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in the coming weeks.
He succeeds Cecilia Attard-Pirotta who is taking up her post as deputy secretary general of the Union for the Mediterranean in Barcelona.
Dr Grech is a diplomat returning from a stint of duty as Ambassador of Malta to Germany. During his term in Berlin, Dr Grech was also non-resident Ambassador of Malta to Poland.
He read for a postgraduate in diplomatic studies at the University of Oxford, a Masters from the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies and has a PhD in international relations.
He is married to Margot and has three sons, Jonathan, Nathaniel and Matthias.