OPR -  Thursday, 10th  May, 2007

President Eddie Fenech Adami was presented with Letters of Credence by H.E. Mr Zaal Gogadze, Ambassador of Georgia and H.E. Mr. Sabas Pretelt de la Vega, Ambassador for the Republic of Colombia.

Both ceremonies took place in the Ambassadors’ Room at The Palace, Valletta.

This afternoon, the President of Malta and Mrs Fenech Adami will host the newly accredited Ambassadors to an official luncheon at San Anton Palace.

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Profile: H.E. Mr Zaal Gogadze, Ambassador of Georgia

The Ambassador was born in November 1954.

He studied at the Faculty of Journalism at Tbilisi State University, Georgia from 1973 up to 1983. In 1984 he obtained a PhD in Journalism from the Moscow State University USSR.

In 1984 he started working at the Centre for Ethnic Relations, Tbilisi, Georgia. Between 1986 and 1989 he was a lecturer in Journalism and was also a freelancer writer for a number of magazines and newspapers in Georgia. The Ambassador started working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia in 1990 as Director of the Department of Information. In 1993 he then served as deputy director at the Department for Political Affairs within the same Ministry. In 1994 he was posted to the Permanent Mission of Georgia to the United Nations, New York as Counsellor. Between 1999 and 2001 he was Director at the Department of International Organisations. He was posted to Banjo Luka at the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 2001 – 2002 as Civil Affairs Officer. In December 2004 he was appointed Ambassador of Georgia in Italy.

The Ambassador published a number of scientific research articles in Georgian and Russian scientific magazines. He speaks English and Russian and has a working knowledge of the Italian and Serbo-Croatian languages.

H.E. Mr. Gogadze is married with two children.

President Fenech Adami presented with credentials by Ambassador Gogadze
 

Profile: H.E. Mr. Sabas Pretelt de la Vega, Ambassador for the Republic of Colombia.

Born in Cartagena, Colombia on 11 April 1946.

He was appointed as Ambassador of Colombia to the Government of Italy and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Technical Organisations in Rome. He presented letters of credence to President Giorgio Napolitano on 4 September 2006 and to the Director General of FAO on 13 October 2006.

Prior to his appointment as Ambassador, Mr. Pretelt de la Vega was a member of President Uribe’s cabinet as Minister of Interior and Justice, being the first non-lawyer to occupy that position. During this tenure as Minister, he served several times as Minister in charge of the presidential office.

Previously, Ambassador Pretelt had a successful career in the private sector, both as entrepreneur and, between 1988 and 2003, as head of the National Federation of Traders (FENALCO), and President of the National Council of Entrepreneurs, a coordinating body of all the private sector organizations in Colombia. In that quality, he also represented several times Colombia’s employers in the Assembly of the International Labour Organisation and in other regional organizations such as ALAS, the Latin American Association of Supermarkets and the Food Marketing Institute of the United States, among others.

In the academic field, Ambassador Pretelt was professor of Greek culture and pre-Socratic philosophy in the Universidad Catolica de la Salle, and of Projects Evaluation in the University of el Valle. He has published numerous articles in newspapers and magazines and is the author of the books “San Andres: Centro Financiero Internacional” and “Privatizaciones, Apertura,y Desarrollo.”

He is married with four children.

President Fenech Adami presented with credentials by Ambassador Pretlet de la Vega