Ambassador Dr Clive Aquilina Spagnol presented his credentials to His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia in March 2021. Ambassador Dr Aquilina Spagnol graduated as a lawyer from the University of Malta in 2001, having read law and international relations, and spent his two-decade career initially in the banking and subsequently aviation sectors. He is qualified at an academic tertiary level in both sectors.

His international experience spans over 8 countries and was the first Maltese national to be employed permanently by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt in 2003 in its legal department. This experience enabled him to contribute closely and directly to two key milestones in Malta’s recent history; that of Malta’s membership in the European Union in 2004, and of adopting the Euro as a single currency in 2008.

During his decade of working in the banking sector, he was also the first legal counsel to join the newly established banking supervision department within the then Malta Financial Services Centre, after a previous stint at the Central Bank of Malta. Dr Spagnol also headed the legal department of a Malta-based German bank and of that of a locally listed financial services group.

He first joined the aviation sector as Head of Air Transport Regulation in the newly revamped Civil Aviation Directorate, where he also represented Malta overseas at the UN regulating body; ICAO in Canada. In 2014 he moved to Libya to work for the Libyan Civil Aviation Authority and remained in the Arab region since then. For a while he also for worked for the UK Civil Aviation Authority where he was assigned to commercial projects in the Gulf and Asian region.

In 2015 he joined one of the largest Gulf airlines to work in its commercial department. In the subsequent years, he worked for three Gulf airlines in 3 different Gulf countries. During this time he was involved in launching a direct flight between Malta and a Gulf country; at the time the second direct flight in operation between Malta and the Gulf.

Ambassador Dr Spagnol researched the Gulf airline industry at doctoral level. He published peer reviewed papers and presented at international conferences. Throughout his banking and aviation career, Ambassador Dr Spagnol crossed paths and directly worked with a number of key industry figures in the regulatory and commercial sectors of both industries.

Ambassador Dr Clive Aquilina Spagnol is fluent in Maltese, English, Italian and has passive knowledge of Arabic, French and German. He has an interest in travelling and discovering new countries and places, as well as in keeping abreast in international affairs. He is also an aviation enthusiast.