On the 9th April 2015, at the Presidential Palace in Valletta, the High Commissioner of New Zealand Patrick John Rata presented his credentials to the President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca.
During the ceremony, the President of Malta and the High Commissioner discussed bilateral relations.
High Commissioner Rata is currently the Ambassador of New Zealand to Italy, having presented his credentials to the President of the Italian Republic in February 2015.
Apart from his cross-accreditation to Malta, Patrick John Rata will also hold cross-accreditations to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, San Marino, Serbia and Montenegro. He is Permanent Representative to the FAO, IFAD and WFP.
High Commissioner Rata previously served as New Zealand Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. A career diplomat, his career has had a particular focus on multilateral issues, with postings to the New Zealand Permanent Mission to the United States in New York, where he worked on UN Security Council Issues and was also elected Vice Chair of the UN Third Committee, and London, where he covered Commonwealth Issues.
High Commissioner Rata also has a separate career in the trade field, working for ten years as a senior official at the World Trade Organization, including as Chef du Cabinet in the Director General’s Office in 2002.
Patrick John Rata attended Auckland University where he received a Master of Arts (First Class) Degree. His wife, Karen Lee Rata, is a lawyer working at the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland and they have two children. His interests include music and sport.