Kuwait's Amir HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jabir Al-Sabah has appointed Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah as the country's new Prime Minister.

 

The new order from the Amir abrogates a previous order on Monday, which assigned Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak to the post. Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak had respectfully declined the post after deliberation with the Amir.

 

In line with the new order, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled will be tasked with nominating members of the Cabinet and providing a list of names to the Amir for approval. Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled will execute the order and notify the National Assembly of the process, said a Kuna report.

 

HH the Amir praised newly-appointed Prime Minister and urged him to crack down on corruption. “We have given you responsibility … a big responsibility … fight corruption and the corrupt … Inshallah Allah the Almighty help you for the best interest of the nation and people,” he said.

 

The Prime Minister thanked the Amir for his trust in assigning him in this post. “I pledge to you to do all I can to continue the blessed march under the leadership of Your Highness,” he said.

 

The new government, which is the 36th in the country’s political history, would be Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled’s firstever and he becomes the eighth Prime Minister of Kuwait. Born in Kuwait in 1953, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Kuwait University in 1977. He joined the Foreign Ministry in 1978 as a diplomatic attache, serving in the Arab affairs department 1978-1983 and with the permanent Kuwaiti mission at the (UN) 1983-1989.

 

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled has also served as Kuwait’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Envoy at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) from 1995 to 1998, during which he participated in the GCC Ministerial Council’s meetings. He has also been awarded with the Order of King Abdulaziz of First-Class in 1998.

 

In 1998, he was appointed by a decree as the Chief of National Security Bureau with a ministerial status. Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled was the Minister Social Affairs and Labor between July 2006 and March 2007, and Minister of Information between May 2008 and January 2009.

 

In 2011, he was appointed as Foreign Minister, and later as Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs in February 2012. In December 2012, he was re-assigned as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. In January 2014, an Amiri decree ordered the appointment of Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah as First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. In December 2016, he was re-assigned as Foreign Minister, and appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in December 2017.