King Abdullah II of Jordan appointed nine new ministers on Wednesday in a government reshuffle, the first since the government of Prime Minister Jaafar Al Hassan was formed last year.
Cabinet changes are frequent in the kingdom, which has had 16 governments since King Abdullah acceded to the throne in 1999, after his father, the late King Hussein.
The main portfolios remained unchanged. The changes comprised the portfolios of transport, youth, health, agriculture, investment, tourism and environment, as well as two Ministers of State.
Mr Al Hassan, who was formerly head of the king’s office at the Royal Palace, heads a Cabinet of 29 members.
According to their official biographies, the new Agriculture Minister, Saeb Al Khreisat, has a PhD in the field from the US, while Health Minister Ibrahim Al Budour is a brain surgeon, and Transport Minister Nidal Al Kattamin was a professor of traffic engineering. Investment Minister Tareq Abu Ghazaleh is an engineer who headed the economics studies department at the Royal Palace.
The economy has been stagnant for the past 15 years, and King Abdullah has emphasised in recent years that the government should seek to make the country more attractive for investment and reform the bloated public administration by drawing up plans and presenting them to him.
