“In the name of Allah, Most Gracious and Most Merciful: I swear in the name of Allah Almighty, to be loyal to my religion, and then to my king and my country, not to disclose any secret of the state, to strive to maintain the welfare of the state and its regulations, and to discharge my duties with integrity, trustworthiness and sincerity,” Minister of Haj Bandar Al-Hajjar, Minister of Economy and Planning Muhammad Al-Jasser, Minister of Civil Service Abdul Rahman Al-Barrak and Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfiq Al-Rabiah said separately while taking the oath.
Deputy Chairman of the Shoura Council Muhammad Al-Jefri and Assistant Chairman of the Shoura Council Fahd Al-Hamad also took oaths in front of the king after the ministers.
On Tuesday, the king decreed the Cabinet reshuffle in which ministers of Haj, commerce and industry, civil service and economy and planning were replaced with new appointees.
After the ceremony, the king congratulated new incumbents and prayed for success in their new roles. “The oath is for your religion and your country. You will be blessed in your tasks, if Allah wills. Do your duty. Thank You. May Allah also bless you with health and well being,” the king said.
The new ministers and Shoura officials thanked the king for reposing trust in them.
The king also thanked and commended the services by Muhammad Al-Faiz, ex-minister of civil service, and Khaled Al-Gosaibi, ex-minister of economy and planning, during their tenure as Cabinet members. Both of them were present at the swearing-in ceremony.
Defense Minister Prince Salman and Chief of General Intelligence Prince Muqrin also attended the function.
Al-Hajjar, former chairman of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) and deputy chairman of the Shoura Council, was born in 1953 in Madinah and took his bachelor’s in economics and politics from King Saud University in Riyadh and Master’s in economics from Indiana University in the US. He obtained his doctorate in economics from Britain. Al-Hajjar became Shoura Council member in 1997.
He also headed the foreign affairs committee of the council. He was the deputy chairman of NSHR in 2004 and since 2005 its chairman.
Al-Jasser was formerly governor of the kingdom's central bank, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA). He had replaced Hamad Al-Sayari as the bank's governor in February 2009, after almost 15 years as vice governor.
He began his career at the Finance Ministry in 1981 and later became executive director for Saudi Arabia at the International Monetary Fund, a post he held until 1995. He helped negotiate Saudi Arabia's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2005.
He was a strong supporter of the proposed GCC monetary union and the plan to launch a Gulf single currency.
Al-Jasser earned a B.A. in Economics from San Diego State University in 1979 and an M.A. in Economics from the University of California in 1981. In 1986, he completed his doctorate in Economics at the University of California.
Al-Barrak, the new minister of civil service, was born in Ahsa in 1956. He obtained his bachelor’s in business administration at King Saud University in 1980, Master’s in public administration at University of Pittsburgh in the US in 1983 and doctorate in public administration at the same university in 1989. After serving various academic and administrative positions at King Saud University Al-Barrak was nominated as member of the Shoura Council in 2001 and became its assistant chairman in 2008.
Commerce and Industries Minister Al-Rabiah, who did his BA in financial management and mathematics at the King Saud University, Riyadh, has a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Pittsburgh in the US.  He has been the driving force behind the vast expansion in the industrial cities in the Kingdom especially when he served as the director general of Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON).
He also served as undersecretary for industries in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and supervisor of the National Industrial Policy.
He is also a member of the board of directors of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority and the Industrial Development Fund.
Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Mubarak has been appointed to replace Al-Jasser as SAMA governor. He was previously chairman and managing director of Morgan Stanley Saudi Arabia. He has also held the position of chairman of the Saudi stock exchange.
Al-Mubarak, who is from the Eastern Province, served as a member of the Shourah Council for six years during which he was vice chairman of its economic and energy committee.