(Left to Right) Hon. Louis Vella, Dean of the Consular Corps College of the USA, Dr Kevin F. Dingli, Dean of the Honorary Consular Corps of Malta and Hon. Nikolaos Margaropoulos, FICAC President.
Dr. Kevin F. Dingli, Dean of the Honorary Consular Corps of Malta, attended the FICAC 2026 North America Regional Conference held in Philadelphia from 2 – 4 November, 2026.
The conference, which was hoisted by the Consular Corps Association of Philadelphia, in conjunction with the Consular Corps College of the USA, covered a wide range of topics relevant to honorary consuls and their work, including issues and challenges in modern day diplomacy, the impact of soft power, the power of protocol and energy diplomacy in a fragmented world amongst others. Presentations were also delivered on projects currently being undertaken by FICAC, turning diplomacy into action, as well as on the Executive Diploma in Consular Practice and Diplomacy - a fully online 2‑week, 30‑hour program for professionals and aspiring diplomats provided by the Anatolia American University (Thessaloniki), in collaboration with FICAC.
At the end of the conference the Dean, together with the Hon. Louis Vella, officially announced the FICAC 2027 Malta Regional Conference which is scheduled to take place from 27 – 29 May 2027, during the course of which a Visit Malta promotional video was also screened. This was very well received. The Dean was later invited to address a Meeting of the Board of Directors of FICAC which was held after the close of the conference, where board members were given an update on reparations for the Malta event which have been undertaken so far.