Saudi Arabia appoints first woman envoy to US
Prince Khaled Bin Salman named deputy defence minister
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Saturday night appointed the younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman as its deputy defence minister and named Princess Reema Bint Bandar Bin Sultan as the kingdom’s first female ambassador to the United States.
Prince Khalid Bin Salman had been ambassador to Washington since 2017. Prince Mohammad, has been defence minister since 2015 when his father ascended the throne.
Princess Reema Bint Bandar Bin Sultan Al Saud is the daughter of former Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan. She is a graduate of George Washington University, and served as an as an adviser to the Crown Prince office. She is also known for her fashion business and philanthropy.
She had a career in the private sector before joining the kingdom’s General Sports Authority where she has championed women’s participation in sports and focused on increasing women’s empowerment.
Ride-hailing company Uber named her to its Public Policy Advisory Board in 2016 and she has emerged as one of the voices promoting recent Saudi economic and social reforms led by the Crown Prince.
“You ask us to change but then when we begin to exhibit change you come to us with cynicism,” she told a panel at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in 2018.
Princess Reema is a graduate of George Washington University, and is also known for her fashion business and philanthropy.