Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar paid a courtesy visit to President of Malta George Vella in his final commitment before retiring as the Head of the Public Service next Tuesday.
At the meeting, Mr Cutajar thanked the President for the positive collaboration he had always found, and also introduced his successor, Tony Sultana, who will succeed to the office on 1st June.
This was the last appointment with the President for Mr Cutajar, who as Cabinet Secretary also served as Chancellor of the Xirka Ġieħ ir-Republika and of the National Order of Merit, of which President Vella is Head.
At the end of this month, Mr Cutajar, 63, will end a 47-year career as a public officer, during which time he worked in a number of departments, ministries, and entities. He reached the highest appointment in the public sector in 2013.
During his time as Head of the Public Service and Cabinet Secretary, Mr Cutajar was responsible for the renewal of the Public Service which made all government services accessible at all times through the setting up of servizz.gov.
Another first was the setting up of the People & Standards Division so that the public officer was no longer considered just another resource, as well as the Institute for Public Services to drive research and training according to the exact needs of the Public Service. Mr Cutajar also put in place permanent planning and implementation structures over the past 9 years, which led to the implementation of 1,250 simplification measures to cut red tape.
The Public Service will build on this work through the 5-year holistic strategy ‘Achieving a Service of Excellence’, launched in November 2021 and which started being implemented as from this year.
