After shaking up the Cabinet with several new appointments, including a new prime minister and foreign minister, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani filled three other government posts this week. They are:

• Air Vice-Marshall Ghanim bin Shaheen al-Ghanim, who is now the new Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. He fills the post vacated by Major-General Hamad bin Ali al-Attiyah, who has been promoted to the Minister of State for Defence Affairs.

• Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdul Aziz Al Thani, who is the new Director of the Office of the Emir. The post was previously occupied by the Emir’s sister Sheikha Hind, who ran the office since 2009.

• Hamad bin Khalifa Al Attiyah as the Special Advisor to the Emir. He replaces Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al Thani, a former prime minister of Qatar and Sheikh Tamim’s uncle.

Meanwhile, Qatar will be looking to fill many other posts left vacant by prominent leaders who have taken up government positions. That includes the director general position of the Al Jazeera Media Network, after Sheikh Ahmed Bin Jassim Al Thani left to become the new Minister of Economy and Trade.

QNB, recently named by Bloomberg as world’s strongest bank, has also lost its CEO Ali Sherif Al-Emadi, who is now the Minister of Finance, a new Cabinet position.

Notably, the heads of ictQatar and Mowasalat now occupy two other newly created cabinet positions – Dr. Hessa Al Jaber is Minister of Communication and Information Technology and Jassim Seif Ahmed Al Sulaiti is the Minister of Transport.

It is unclear how or if these governmental bodies will be integrated into the new ministries.

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo by Brian Candy

Note: This post has been corrected to reflect that Al Attiyah is not a Sheikh, as that title is reserved for ruling family members.