H.E. Mr. John Busuttil, is a career diplomat with nearly 30 years of international relations experience, including 8 years working with the European Union External Action Service. He presented credentials as Ambassador of Malta to China in April 2023, after a stint at the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade, as Director for Global Issues.

Mr. Busuttil joined the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1995 as Second Secretary and was posted soon after to Bonn, Germany. He returned to Malta in 1999 where he served at the Ministry as Head of the Commonwealth and Technical Agencies Unit. In 2002 he moved to the Permanent Representation in Geneva as Deputy Head of Mission. Soon after Malta joined the European Union in 2004, he was posted to the Maltese Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels as Trade Attaché, and in 2007 he was appointed as Head of the ECOFIN Unit. The 2008 economic and financial crisis and its impact on Europe and the Euro was a steep learning curve.

In 2011 he successfully competed in a Europe wide competition for a position as First Counsellor at the EU Delegation to the United Nations in New York, with the newly created European External Action Service. The move to New York further consolidated his experience of multilateralism and the international rules based system. After 4 years dealing with EU matters at the United Nations, in 2015 he returned to Brussels to the EEAS Headquarters as an official with the Peace and Security Unit of the African Division. The work retained a strong link with the UN, considering that more than 80% of UN peacekeeping is in Africa.

In 2019 he re-joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Valletta and in 2020 was appointed as Director for Global Issues. He continued to work extensively on multilateral matters was part of the Team managing Malta’s successful bid for election to the United Nations Security Council for the term 2023-2024.

He is a graduate of the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies of the University of Malta having obtained his Master of Arts in 1994.

Mr Busuttil is married to Jacqueline Busuttil Xuereb and is a sports enthusiast.