Sarah A. Assiri has been first secretary at the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2018. She is currently working with the minister of state for African affairs, Ahmad Kattan, and is learning from his knowledge and experience.
Assiri is also in charge of international cooperation in African affairs, representing the country in the Friends of Sudan Group, and is in charge of the Horn of Africa region.
She has visited African countries with Kattan and is looking forward to seeing more of the continent’s diverse beauty.
In 2017, Assiri worked with the Saudi ambassador in Yemen, Mohammad Al-Jabir, who helped to expand her perception of diplomacy and grow in the humanitarian and development fields.
She worked with organizations such as the Saudi Fund for Development, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, and the Saudi Reconstruction and Development Program for Yemen.
She also worked with the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières, representing Saudi Arabia on several occasions.
Assiri has highlighted to UN headquarters the Kingdom’s humanitarian efforts in Yemen, which are helping to alleviate suffering in the country.
During Japan’s presidency of the G20 in 2019, Assiri was part of the Saudi delegation headed by Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in Nagoya, where she worked until the leaders’ summit last November,
She led the workshop that followed the extraordinary meetings of the G20 foreign ministers on border management. Earlier in her career, Assiri worked as a teacher for a short period. Twitter: @Sa400
She graduated from King Saud University with a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the College of English Language and Literature in 2012.
Assiri is passionate about writing and is interested in arts and culture. In 2017, she started an Arabic language blog, writing about everyday life, travel, films, music, and literature.
Her diplomatic life started in 2009, and she remembers the words of the late Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud Al-Faisal: “Diplomacy is not only a job, but also a lifestyle.”
