UAE's Anwar Gargash removed as foreign affairs minister
Anwar Gargash, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) minister of state for foreign affairs who worked on the normalisation deal with Israel last year, has been replaced and will take up a new position, the government said on Wednesday.
Shiekh Mohammed bin Rashid, Dubai's emir and UAE prime minister, said on Twitter the move is part of a small cabinet reshuffle he had ordered.
Gargash, who has occupied the second most senior foreign affairs position since 2008 and is one of the UAE's most prominent figures, will become a diplomatic advisor to UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Reuters reported.
Zaki Nusseibeh also stepped down from his position of minister for public and cultural diplomacy to become a cultural advisor to the president.
Sheikh Shakhbout bin Nahyan, the former UAE ambassador to Saudi Arabia, will take up the post of minister of state at the foreign ministry, alongside Khalifa Al Marar, who was previously assistant minister of political affairs.
Marar has previously served in diplomatic roles in Japan, Syria, Iran, Armenia, Turkey and at the permanent mission to the UN in New York.
Dubai's emir said on Twitter that Gargash had been "one of the most important pioneers of Emirati political work... who had been able to bring about major transformations in our foreign political work and international political and regional relations".
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