The new US Ambassador to Malta, Kathleen Hill, presented her credentials to President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca yesterday, taking over from Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley who was in the post for three-and-a-half years.

She hopes that through her role she will help improve the “strong bilateral relationship” that exists between the two countries.

“Our partnership has sustained our two nations in the face of past challenges,” she said in comments she gave to this newspaper after the ceremony.

“The US government will always be grateful to Malta for its unfailing support in providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Libya, to Americans and others who fled the conflict in Libya in 2011,” she said.

Ms Hill said she was looking forward to meeting Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and other officials to discuss how relations between the two nations could be improved and what could be done to continue building on them.

The ambassador is a career member of the Foreign Service, Class of Counsellor and was sworn in as ambassador by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

She has served in several countries including Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Uzbekistan, Italy and Canada. Most recently, she served as senior adviser in the office of the executive secretary at the Department of State.

She speaks Italian, Russian and Serbian and has received several state department awards for her managerial and leadership skills, including the 2012 James Clement Dunn Award for Excellence.