Within the framework of the Future Strategies is to be included the agreement between the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Republic of Malta signed at Fort St. Angelo on June 21st 1991 by the then Foreign Minister Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, who is today President of the Republic of Malta, and His Excellency Count Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, Receiver of the Common Treasure and at present also Grand Chancellor of the Order. According to this agreement, the Order has acquired the esclusive use of the Magistral Palace, the Church of St. Anne and specific areas and buildings within Fort St. Angelo for fifty years. The significance of this agreement is twofold: on the one hand it implies the return of the Knights to the Island to which the Knights brought so much prestige over the centuries by using it as a base for the defence of the Faith in the Mediterranean; on the other hand it gives the Order the possibility to create a place where it can promote the spiritual and moral aptitudes of its Members and prepare the future leaders of the Order. Recently, upon the express will of the Grand Master, the Knights have entered into further negotiations with the Maltese Government in order to attain a greater institutional presence of the Knights on the Island.

Another aspect of the renewal of the Order is the reform of the Constitutional Charter and the Code to make them conform with principles expressed in the Second Vatican Council and also with the new code of Canon Law. This revision was suggested by the need to resolve many problems caused by the interpretation of rules in force and the urgency to reorganise the structures of the Order since, apparently, the central one is no longer able to cope with the events emerging after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the resulting committments in favour of Eastern European Countries. To the above may be added the opportuneness to review the upper echelons in order to improve the internal and external organisation of the Order. To prepare proposals for the modification of the two constitutional document, the Grand Master created a Commission led by Count Carlo Marullo di Condojanni who presented the result of his work on the occasion of the second seminar on Strategies, held in Malta in December 1993. The four most important themes treated were: the relationship between the centre and the peripheral organisations; the structure of classes, the position of the Dames and the prestige and image of the Order.

The first of these points showed the need of all the peripheral organisations to have contacts and closer communication with the Government of the Order in Rome and with its various offices. Regarding the structure of classes, the desire was expressed that a modification would allow the participation of an ever-increasing number of Knights in the life of the Order. With respect to the Dames, it was proposed that there should be an increased presence. The Commission confirmed the aristocratic nature of the ancient institution and the lay commitment in its "tuitio Fidei et obsequium pauperum".

The programme of Future Strategies concluded with the Chapter General which was held in Rome in April 1994, during which the general inventory of the properties of the Order was presented and the resolutions proposed by the work Groups at the seminars and the conclusions reached by the Commission for the reform of the Constitutional Charter and the Code were examined. The Chapter deliberated to summon an extraordinary Chapter General within 1996 to discuss and approve changes in the Statutes due to the delicacy and the complexity of the subjects.

The Strategies and the reform of the Constitutional Charter and Code present us with a large and complex image of the Order and reveal the requirements of an international organisation in continuous and constant expansion. Within this framework, the fact that the Order was given the status of permanent observer at the General Assembly of the United Nations acquires particular importance. The Mission was inaugurated on September 26th 1994 and on the occasion of the opening session the Prince and Grand Master Fra' Andrew Bertie sent as Head of the Delegation Count Don Carlo Marullo di Condojanni who on September 19, 1996 was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Observer at the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Besides adding to the prestige of the Order, this particular position within the United Nations Organization will be useful towards the realisation of its mission in the hospitaller field and allow to establish a closer relationship with the other international organisms present in the United Nations.

The Order launches a new challenge in the wake of the year 2000. A challenge which all the Knights of St. John are required to face in order that expectations might not be disappointed. May the Holy Virgin of Philermo and St. John the Baptist guide the steps of the Grand Master Fra' Andrew Bertie and his collaborators in order that the Hospitallers may conserve the ideals of fraternity and altruism which have inspired their activities during ten centuries of history.

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