OPR - Thursday, 30th March, 2006

The President of Malta, H.E. Dr. Edward Fenech Adami, was presented with the Letters of Commission by  H.E. Mr. Nick Archer,  High Commissioner of the United Kingdom and Letters of Credence by H.E. Luis Camilo Osorio-Isaza, Ambassador of the Republic of Colombia.

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

This afternoon, The President and Mrs. Fenech Adami will host the newly accredited High Commissioner and Ambassador to an official luncheon at San Anton Palace.

The curriculum vitae of the ambassadors follow.

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H.E. Mr. Nick Archer, was born in December 1960.

The High Commissioner graduated form Durham University, where he studied English and German, in 1982. He worked briefly at the auctioneers Sotheby’s before joining the Foreign Office the following year.

He learned Arabic and served in Jordan from 1986 to 1989. Returning to London, he worked on the Middle East Peace Process, representing UK at the Madrid Peace Conference, and then served as Private Secretary to the then Minister of State, Douglas Hogg QC MP, from 1992 to 1995. In this role he travelled extensively in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. 

The High Commissioner was posted to Norway in 1995, as Head of the Economic and Commercial Section of the Embassy. He served two years there before returning early to the UK to join the Household of HRH The Prince of Wales as Private Secretary responsible for the foreign and cultural aspects of His Royal Highness’s work. He was awarded an MVO for services to the Royal Family in 2001.

Back in the Foreign Office, Mr. Archer was Head of the North East Asia and Pacific Department from 2001 to 2002 before returning to Middle Eastern affairs as Head of the Near East and North Africa Department from 2002 to 2005. Immediately before his arrival to Malta, he worked with the National Audit Office on their report on the British consular response to the Tsunami, published in the autumn of 2005.

The High Commissioner married Erica Power, who is a barrister and member of Lincoln’s Inn, in 1999, and they have two sons: Alexander, born in 2004 and Christian born in 2005.

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H.E. Mr Luis Camilo Osorio-Isaza was born in Medellin in November 11, 1943.

The Ambassador graduated in Law and Economics in the Javeriana University of Bogota in 1968. He furthered his studies at the University of Friedrich Wilhelm of Bonn where he graduated in Public Economy in 1974.

His diplomatic career started in 1969 when he served as Undersecretary of Education at the Department of Cundinamarca. The following year he was appointed Technical Officer at the National Planning Department. He became Economic Counsellor at the Embassy of Colombia to Germany in 1970. He also has a 14 year experience as Private Attorney in Administrative, Civil and Commercial Law for a number of years. He was also in the Disciplinary Tribunal of Bogota and Executive Director at the National Association of Commercial consortiums.

In 1983 he became member of the National Commission for Peace Negotiations and in the same year he was appointed vice-Minister of Education. He was appointed Head of the National Office of Registration in 1991 and four years later he became member of the council of State. He held the rank of President of the Ibero-American Association of Public Ministries and Attorney during the period 2002 – 2004 and was Colombia’s Attorney General between 2001 – 2005.

The Ambassador is also an Ambassador of Colombia to Italy and Permanent Representative of Colombia to the UN Technical Agencies in Rome.

Mr. Osorio-Isaza has held various lectures in the field of Law in various Universities in Colombia.