Jeddah – Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud issued a royal order on Tuesday establishing the National Development Fund to be under the mandate of the Prime Minister.

The royal orders also included a minor cabinet reshuffle where Minister Sulaiman al-Hamdan was assigned to the Ministry of Civil Service and head of the Saudi Ports Authority Nabeel al-Amudi was appointed transport minister.

The royal order stated that the Fund was established to enhance the performance of other funds and development banks in the kingdom.

The National Development Fund will oversee the functions of the Saudi Fund for Development, the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, the Agricultural Development Fund, the Social Development Bank and the Human Resources Development Fund.

The Fund will supervise the functions of its affiliated bodies and will assume all tasks and powers, and make decisions, take progressive measures and other actions deemed necessary for establishing the fund.

The Fund’s board of directors will be headed by the deputy prime minister and will comprise a membership of not less than seven members nominated by the prime minister. It shall have a governor with a minister’s rank, who will be the executive officer of the fund.

According to the royal decree, an Experts Committee from the Council of Ministers will prepare a draft regulation for the operations of the fund, taking into account the aims and objectives stipulated by the king’s order within a period not exceeding thirty days from the date of this order.

Another royal order was issued appointing Sulaiman Abdulfattah bin Sulaiman Mashat as deputy minister of Hajj and Umrah, Saad bin Moqbil al-Maimooni as governor of Taif, Isam bin Hamad bin Ali al-Mubarak as governor of the Real Estate General Commission with excellent rank, and Majid bin Ibrahim al-Fayadh as general executive supervisor of the general corporation of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center.

In addition, a royal decree relieved Mohammad Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz al-Hasan from his post as director of Najran University and appointed Falah bin Faraj bin Ali al-Sobaiei in his place.

Also, Nabil bin Abdulqadir bin Hamzah Koshak was relieved from his position as director of al-Baha University while Abdullah bin Yahia bin al-Hussein Qasim was appointed as director.

Abdullah bin Mifrih bin Nahar al-Rooqi was appointed as director of Tabuk University with excellent rank.