Riyadh: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz issued new royal decrees on Saturday night making a number of new appointments, including a new ambassador to the United States, cabinet reshuffle and scheduling of all exams before start of Ramadan - the holy month of fasting.
Besides these measures, King Salman has also restored all allowances and benefits to civil and military staff.
The Council of Ministers on September 2016 decided to cancel or stop some of allowances and financial benefits for civilian and military staff as part of the austerity measures. These allowances and benefits have been restored following an improvement in the state revenues and reduction in budget deficit, the royal decree noted.
According to another decree, two months’ salary will be paid as allowance to those who are employed in operations Decisive Desert Storm and Restoration of Hope on frontlines, and they include staff from the ministries of interior, defense, National Guard and the General Intelligence Presidency.
Prince Khalid bin Salman has been named as Saudi Arabia’s new ambassador to the US replacing Prince Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki, according to Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Prince Khaled, the new US ambassador and son of King Salman, is an air force pilot who flew missions as part of that anti-IS coalition, said Salman al-Ansari, president of the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee (SAPRAC).
Ansari, whose committee is a private initiative to strengthen Saudi-US ties, described Prince Khaled as a "very organised personality, savvy, youthful, and active."
In another major decisions taken Saturday night, Minister of Information and Culture Adel Al-Toraifi was replaced by Dr. Awwad Al-Awwad and the Civil Service minster Khaled Al Araj has been removed from his position. A ministerial committee has been constituted to investigate into excesses made by Al-Araj.
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman was named state minister for energy affairs. Minister of Telecommunications and IT Mohammed Al-Suwaiyel has been replaced by Abdullah bin Amer Al-Sawaha.
Prince Abdullah bin Musaed has also been removed from his position at Saudi Arabia’s Sports Authority. He is replaced by Mohammed Abdelmalek al-Shaikh, according to SPA.
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