Middle East

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appointed as Prime Minister

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz named his son and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the Kingdom’s Prime Minister and his second son Prince Khalid as defence minister, a royal decree said on Tuesday.

The reshuffle kept another son, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, as energy minister, the royal decree, carried by state news agency SPA, said.

Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan and Investment Minister Khalid Al Falih remained unchanged, the decree showed.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman had been the defence minister and Prince Khalid bin Salman, Crown Prince’s younger brother, previously served as deputy defence minister.

King Salman will still preside the cabinet meetings that he attends, the decree said.

The 86-year-old King, the custodian of two Holy Mosques, became ruler in 2015 after spending more than two-and-a-half years as the crown prince.

Prince Mohammed has changed Saudi Arabia radically since 2017 as he led efforts to diversify the economy from dependence on oil, allowed women to drive and curbed the clerics’ power over society. — (Reuters)