Saudi king names new foreign minister in govt reshuffle

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King Salman of Saudi Arabia appointed a new foreign minister in a government reshuffle Thursday, a royal decree said.

Ibrahim Al-Assaf will replace Adel Al-Jubeir, the foreign ministry said citing the decree. Jubeir will be demoted to minister of state for foreign affairs, it added.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud signs documents during the 2019 budget meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 18, 2018. /VCG Photo

In a cabinet reshuffle, Ibrahim Al-Assaf, who served as finance minister for 20 years and has represented Saudi Arabia at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, was named to take over as foreign minister from Adel Al-Jubeir.

A Saudi official said the reshuffle came at the end of the cabinet's four-year term, as required by law.

In other changes, King Salman appointed Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz to replace Prince Khaled bin Ayyaf as chief of the National Guard. General Kalid bin Qirar al-Harbi was named general security chief, while Musaed al-Aiban, a Harvard-educated son of Saudi Arabia's first intelligence chief, was named national security adviser.

Turki Al-Sheikh, a close adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed, was moved from his position as head of the sports committee to head up an entertainment commission.

Turki Al-Shabana, an executive at broadcaster Rotana, was appointed minister of information. Rotana is owned by billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

King Salman also ordered the creation of a Saudi Space Agency, chaired by his 62-year-old son Prince Sultan bin Salman, who heads the Saudi tourism agency and flew aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle Discovery in the 1980s as the first Arab in space.

(Top image: Saudi Arabia's Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf speaks to the media after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew and finance ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 27, 2016. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters