Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia, issued a royal decree on Thursday reshaping the country’s cabinet.

A royal decree was also issued to restructure the Political and Security Affairs Council, headed by the Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Ibrahim al-Assaf was appointed as Foreign Minister and Adel al-Jubeir as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz was appointed as Minister of National Guard, Turki Shabbaneh as Minister of Media, while Hamad al-Sheikh was appointed Minister of Education.

Faisal bin Khalid was replaced by Turki bin Talal as Governor of the Asir region.

Sultan bin Salman has been moved from the presidency of the Tourism Authority and appointed as Chairman of the Space Authority, which was established under the name of Saudi Space Authority. The Authority shall have a Board of Directors appointed by Royal Order.

Badr bin Sultan has been replaced by Faisal bin Nawaf as Governor of Jouf region.

Musa'ad al-Aiban was appointed as National Security Adviser.

Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal has replaced Turki al-Sheikh as president of the Sports Authority, while Turki al-Sheikh has been appointed as Chairman of the Entertainment Authority.

Khalid bin Qarar al-Harbi has been appointed the Director of Public Security.

Bader bin Sultan was appointed Deputy to the Governor of Mecca and Eman al-Mutairi as assistant to the minister of commerce.

Under the orders, a body will be established on behalf of the General Organization for Exhibitions and Conferences.

The Authority will have a Board of Directors appointed by a Royal Decree. Dr. Majid Bin Abdullah al-Qasabi will be appointed as Chairman of the Board.

Ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has been appointed Advisor to Saudi King Salman with the rank of a minister.


Why now?
With the decision by King Salman to reshuffle the government, Saudi Arabia is entering today, a new stage of its reform plan announced four years ago.

As expected, with the completion of the first term under the Vision 2030 plan, the Kingdom opens the second quarterly plan after the first term had established the foundations of modernization and reform.

According to the regulations in Saudi Arabia, the cycle of each government is four years, after which it should be either changed or re-assigned.

The previous government was formed four years ago, under which ministers were assigned specific programs and plans of action.

According to the regulations, the ministers’ work is subject to assessment, and subsequently, they are either re-assigned or changed.

An in-depth reading of the list of ministers announced on Thursday shows that the reshuffle included several important sectors of foreign policy and national security in a variable time that requires a restructuring.

The reshuffle was not limited to the ministers, but also included the governors of some important regions and executive councils in order to support the public policies, including the Political and Security Affairs Council.

The expansion of the changes and their inclusion by the government, advisory boards, and executive bodies will enable the second term of four years to provide the Saudi government with the necessary mechanisms to push action plans and ensure their efficiency in a better format.