Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah bin Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud (Arabic: فيصل بن فرحان آل سعود, DMG Faiṣal b. Farḥān Āl Saʿūd; born 1 November 1974) is a Saudi Arabian diplomat, politician and a member of the House of Saud. Prince Faisal has also served as the Saudi ambassador to Germany since 27 March 2019 until his appointment as the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia. He is currently serving as the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia since 23 October 2019, when he was appointed to that position by a royal decree issued by King Salman.[1] Prince Faisal was born in Frankfurt, West Germany and spent a part of his childhood and young adulthood in that country, which is why he speaks fluent German according to German news media.[2]
Early life and political career
Prince Faisal is a member of the Saudi royal family. A son of Prince Farhan bin Abdullah Al Saud, he was born on 1 November 1974 in West Germany and was educated in the US.[3][4] He studied business administration at King Saud University.[5] He served as an adviser at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the US from 2017 to 2019.[3]
As an expert on the defense industry, he also chaired a US-Saudi joint venture with the aerospace company Boeing.[7] Prince Faisal also served as an adviser to the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia.[3][4]
In November 2017, Saudi Arabia withdrew its then ambassador to Germany, Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, in protest of a statement made by Sigmar Gabriel, the German Foreign Minister at that time. Gabriel had clearly criticized the active influence of the kingdom on the political-power constellation in Lebanon. After nearly a year of diplomatic crisis and vacancy of the ambassador position, Saudi Arabia sent its ambassador back to Berlin, but he was replaced by Faisal bin Farhan on 27 March 2019.[3] Saudi dissidents living in Germany were not pleased with the appointment of Faisal. The dissident Khalid bin Farhan al-Saud, a distant relative of the new ambassador, feared that the diplomat could also pressure opposition representatives. He told Deutsche Welle that he did not rule out that Faisal bin Farhan had been sent to Germany to persecute Saudi dissidents living in the country. Faisal has a good relationship with the kingdom's powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.[8]
Faisal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on 26 February 2023
On 23 October 2019, he was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia.[1][9]
On 19 August 2020, Foreign Minister Faisal said the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates could be seen as positive, but Saudi Arabia would not normalize relations until peace is signed with the Palestinians, hopefully within the framework of the Arab Peace Initiative.[10]
Faisal and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian after signing a joint statement on the restoration of diplomatic relations, with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in the background, 6 April 2023
Since April 2021, Iraq has hosted five rounds of direct talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which cut diplomatic ties in 2016. The 6th round of talks on a ministerial level stalled, but after a meeting in Amman, Jordan, in December 2022, Faisal and Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian signaled that both countries would be "open to more dialogue".[11] In January 2023, Faisal speaking at a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos reiterated that "Riyadh is trying to find a dialog with Iran".[12] The two countries announced the resumption of relations on 10 March 2023, following a deal brokered by China.[13] It could lead the way to easing of the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, thus bringing stability to Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Bahrain.[14]
In June 2023, Faisal took part in a BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting in Cape Town chaired by South Africa.[15] He met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who was also in Cape Town.[16]
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