Saudi Arabia appoints Prince Faisal bin Farhan as foreign minister

In a partial Cabinet reshuffle, Saudi Arabia's King Salman appointed Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud as new foreign minister on Wednesday. Prior to his appointment as foreign minister, Prince Faisal served as Saudi Arabia's ambassor to Germany and as a senior political visor at Saudi embassy in United States. He h previously worked in defence industry and was a chairman of a joint venture with planemaker Boeing.

Prince Faisal has taken over from Ibrahim al-Assaf, who was appointed  minister of state. After becoming foreign minister, Prince Faisal joins a new cre of top Saudi diplomats in ir 40s, including ambassors to United States and Britain, who are siblings.

appointment of Prince Faisal is seen as an effort to improve kingdom's im after crisis caused by killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and long-running devastating war in Yemen. After global outr over Khashoggi's killing, longtime Saudi diplomat and Minister of Foreign Affairs el al-Jubeir was also demoted to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in December 2018. 

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Saleh bin Nasser, new transport minister

According to international reports, Saleh bin Nasser bin al- Ali al-Jasser has also been replaced by Nabil bin Mohammed al-Amoudi as transport minister. However, it is still unclear wher al-Amoudi h been bestowed with ar government position. Last month he was appointed to board of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, which is planning a partial share flotation as kingdom has been navigating a spike in tensions with Iran. 

(With ncy inputs)

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