The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA; ''Wizārat al-Khārijīyah'') is the ministry responsible for handling the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's external relations. The ministry oversees "political, cultural and financial international relations" and monitors the Kingdom's diplomatic relations. It was created in 1930 by a royal decree issued by King Abdulaziz Al Saud, being the first ministerial body created by the King.

History

While consolidating the newly formed Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz, King Abdulaziz, established foreign diplomatic relations by sending representatives and receiving delegations from various states. In 1926, he established the directorate general for foreign affairs in

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

. A branch of the directorate was also opened in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

. The first director general of foreign affairs was Abdullah Beg Al Damluji, who was also ruler of Hejaz at that time. In 1930, a royal decree was issued to elevate the directorate general to the ministry of foreign affairs. King Abdulaziz appointed his son, Prince Faisal, as the first foreign minister. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formally established by King Abdulaziz in 1932. Initially the ministry was made up of five departments, namely the private office and the departments of oriental affairs, administrative affairs, political affairs and consular affairs. The ministry began establishing diplomatic missions abroad. The first one was opened in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

in 1926 followed by another in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

1930. The number of missions increased from five in 1936 to 18 in 1951 and expanded further after that. Aside from a brief interjection, Prince Faisal continued to serve even after he succeeded the throne as

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

. After his assassination in 1975, Faisal was succeeded as foreign minister by his son, Prince Saud. Saud was the longest-serving foreign minister of any country in current political times, The ministry launched a magazine, '' The Diplomat'', in 2007. It was rumored in 2010 that the next foreign minister would be Prince Turki Al Faisal, Saud's younger brother, after Saud retired, which however did not occur.

Senior officials

The senior officials in the ministry are as follows:

List of ministers

Ministers of Foreign Affairs

The following is the list of foreign ministers since its foundation:

Ministers of State for Foreign Affairs

The ministers of state for foreign affairs served are as follows: # Omar Al Saqqaf (1968–November 1974) # Mohammad Ibrahim Massoud (November 1974–March 1975) # Saud bin Faisal Al Saud (March 1975–October 1975) # Nizar Madani (2005–2018) # Adel al-Jubeir (2018–Present)

Building

The building of the ministry is in

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

and was designed by Henning Larsen. It blends both vernacular and monumental styles of

Islamic architecture Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both Secularity, secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Muslim world, Islamic world encompasse ...

. Larsen received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1989 for his work on the building. Built in 1984, building consists of meeting, conference and prayer rooms, a library and a banquet hall. Externally, the building appears as a fortress that was carved out of a single piece of stone.

References

External links

* https://twitter.com/KSAMOFA {{authority control 1930 establishments in Saudi Arabia Ministries established in 1930

Foreign Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Foreign relations of Saudi Arabia