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 the new foreign minister on Wednesday. Prior to his appointment as the foreign minister, Prince Faisal served as Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Germany and as a senior political advisor at the Saudi embassy in the United States. He had previously worked in the 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 the minister of state. After becoming the foreign minister, Prince Faisal joins a new cadre of top Saudi diplomats in their 40s, including the ambassadors to the United States and Britain, who are siblings.

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

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According to international reports, Saleh bin Nasser bin al- Ali al-Jasser has also been replaced by Nabil bin Mohammed al-Amoudi as transport minister.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

(With agency inputs)

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