Malta's man in the USA

When the US State Department forgot to invite Malta for an important briefing about the Iraq war, Malta's polite representative did not complain. John Lowell, Malta's ambassador to the United States, is former chairman of the Manoel theatre and former President of Floriana football club. Nora Boustany interviewed him for the Washington Post:

The British colony was an inviting target for the Axis powers during WorldWar II, and Malta suffered relentless German bombardment and a blockade.The ambassador grew up during that war and remembers taking cover from bomb attacks in underground shelters. It was a time of famine and devastation. Lowell has never forgotten the privations of wartime. He stood in line for meals at a victory kitchen and wrapped his share of the family loaf in a handkerchief so it would last several days. "You cannot imagine the anxiety of hearing the sirens, having to rush up and down the stairs at night. . . . Seeing other children asleep in a doorway," he said. "Physically,we were hungry people. My mother sold a diamond ring for a sack of potatoes."

After the war, Lowell attended a Jesuit school. After graduating, he went to work in 1952 for Barclay's Bank. He was 16 years old. He became a diplomat late in life after a career as a businessman, working in real estate, travel agencies and catering businesses. Lowell opened six of Malta's choicest restaurants and clubs, including the first Chinese and Japanese restaurants in the country. At 61, he decided to retire and sold his businesses. His first public role came in 1992 when he was asked to help run and raise funds for the National Theater.

When he presented his credentials to President Bush, he carried a photograph of the president's father, GeorgeH.W. Bush, and Mikhail Gorbachev taken when the U.S. and Soviet presidents met at a summit in Malta in 1989, signaling the end of the Cold War. A letter from President Bush thanking Lowell for the photograph is framed and hanging in Lowell's office. Lowell said there has been a flurry of activity since Malta entered theEuropean Union. After the interview this week, he said he was going to attend a reception at the Dutch Embassy that featured a photo exhibit ofMaltese scenes.

Lowell said he focuses on good manners as the highest of values in his job. "I never feel at a loss in the company of other diplomats," he said. He was not insulted, he said, when Malta, Luxembourg and Cyprus were not invited to a March 19 luncheon at the White House for an update on the Iraq war. But he did make a polite inquiry at the State Department afterward. "We took no offense; I just wanted to make sure there were no issues or hard feelings that needed to be sorted out," he said. It had been an "oversight, "the State Department protocol office told him, which would not happen again.

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