Saudi Arabia: Another reshuffle looks designed to push reforms

A slew of royal orders issues in the early hours of 2 June in the name of King Salman Bin Abdelaziz highlighted the government’s continued efforts to implement its reform agenda, with moves seemingly designed to tackle problems in the jobs market and to improve the country’s tourism credentials. Labour and social development minister Ali Bin Nasser Al-Ghafis was relieved of his post, to be replaced by Ahmed Bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi, in an apparent recognition of the government’s continued failure to deal with persistent unemployment, particularly among young Saudis.