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    Dr Alfred Sant (1996 - 1998)

    Prime Minister of Malta (1996 - 1998)



    Born on February 28, 1948, Dr. Alfred Sant, M.Sc., M.B.A., D.B.A. (HARVARD), M.P., graduated as Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics at the University of Malta in 1967 and as Master of Science in Physics in the following year. In 1970, he read for a Diploma of the Institute International d'Amministration Publique in Paris. In the same year, he served as Second and then as First Secretary at the Malta Mission to the European Community in Brussels.

    Dr. Sant resigned from the Maltese diplomatic service early in 1975 to undertake full-time studies at Boston University where he graduated with High Honours as Master of Business Administration in 1976. He was awarded a Harvard Business School research fellowship and graduated Doctor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, Cambridge, USA in 1979.

    Between 1977 - 1978, Dr. Sant served as adviser on general and financial management at the Ministry of Parastatal and Peoples Industries in Valletta and for the following two years he was Managing Director of Medina Consulting Group, a unit formed to provide business consultancy services in Malta and abroad.

    Between 1980 and 1982, Dr. Sant was Executive Deputy Chairman of the Malta Development Corporation. Towards the end of 1982, he started to work as consultant in the public and private sectors.

    Between 1984 and 1988, Dr. Sant served as Chairman of the Guze Ellul Mercer Foundation, an educational joint venture between the Malta Labour Party and the General Workers Union. During 1988 and 1989, he chaired a Malta Labour Party working group evaluating the options for future relations between Malta and the European Community from the economic and social perspectives. The report of the working group was published in book form in Maltese and in English.

    Dr. Sant is an established writer and playwright and has published several books.

    In 1995, Dr. Sant published a study, entitled "Malta's European Challenge" focusing on the need for Malta to establish the best possible relations with the European Union compatible with Malta's special position at the centre of the Mediterranean.

    His active political career started in 1982 when he was appointed Chairman of the Information branch of the Malta Labour Party, an office he held until 1984.

    In 1984, he was elected President of the Malta Labour Party and served in that position until 1988. In 1987, he was elected Member of Parliament and was elected Leader of the Malta Labour Party in 1992.
    Dr. Sant led the Malta Labour Party to electoral victory in the General Elections of October 1996. He was sworn in as Malta's Prime Minister on October 28, 1996. Following the electoral defeat in the General Elections of 1998, he was appointed Leader of the Opposition.