RIYADH – Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques has appointed Prince Khaled Bin Bandar Bin Abdul Aziz as Emir of Riyadh region with the rank of minister, said the Saudi Press Agency quoting a Royal Order Thursday. Prince Turki Bin Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz has been appointed Deputy Emir of Riyadh region with the rank of minister, the Royal Order said. Prince Muhammad Bin Saad Bin Abdul Aziz has been relieved of his post as Deputy Emir of Riyadh upon his request. Prince Khaled, a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, was a high ranking military officer and the commander of the Royal Saudi Land Forces. He participated in a basic and a specialist course on machinery at the Armored Forces Institute. He graduated from an advanced course on armors and a technical course on maintenance in US. He was decorated by Pakistan President Asif Zardari with the military crescent medal that is awarded in Pakistan to distinctive foreign military personalities. In 2011, a Royal decree was issued promoting him to Lieutenant General and appointing him as Commander of the Land Forces in the Kingdom. Prince Turki Bin Abdullah was born on Oct. 21, 1971. He was enrolled at King Faisal Air College and spent four months in the college before being sent on a scholarship to US. He graduated from a preparatory course and an aviation course at Luckland Air Force Base in Texas. He was trained on flying F-5 at King Fahd Air Base in Taif for 15 months. He also received a training course on an F-15-S fighter plane, winning the first place with excellent grade. He was promoted to the rank of captain pilot in Oct. 1997. He worked at the King Abdul Aziz Air Base in Dhahran. The appointments follow the death of Prince Sattam Bin Abdul Aziz, who died Tuesday after serving the nation for about 45 years. Prince Sattam was the 9th emir of Riyadh. The appointments are the latest in a series of new changes made by the King. Earlier this month the King named Majid Abdullah Al-Moneef as the new Secretary-General of the Supreme Economic Commission. Al-Moneef was Saudi Arabia's Governor to OPEC, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources among other positions. Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Tuwaijri was earlier relieved of his post as president of Capital Market Authority (CMA), and Mohammed Al-Shiekh was appointed as CMA President at the rank of minister. – SG
