Mahir bin Abdulrahman Al-Gassim was recently appointed deputy minister for civil services at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD).
Al-Gassim received a bachelor’s degree with honors in system engineering from the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in 2001. He also attended an executive leadership program at the Lausanne-based IMD Business School.
Al-Gassim has been undersecretary of HRSD for international affairs since April 2019. He is currently chairing the board of directors of Holoul Company, a semi-government and subsidiary of Takamol Holding.
Al-Gassim, who recently joined the board of directors at the Institute of Public Administration, has also been a board member of the National Competitiveness Center since 2019.
In addition, he is a member of several government committees. Before joining HRSD, he participated in a group of administrative boards of private companies.
Al-Gassim has more than 20 years of experience in several sectors, including manufacturing, development and information technology in leading local and global companies. One such company was IBM, where he served as a sales leader from 2009 to 2011 before he became a country manager for over five years beginning in 2014.
He also worked for the Advanced Electronics Company as an associate design engineer from 2001 to 2002 and later as a business development engineer from 2002 to 2005.
Al-Gassim also worked for Microsoft for nearly a year beginning in June 2008.
Who’s Who: Mahir bin Abdulrahman Al-Gassim, deputy minister for civil services at the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development
https://arab.news/rtwy9
Who’s Who: Mahir bin Abdulrahman Al-Gassim, deputy minister for civil services at the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development
Saudi Arabia launches initiative to reroute Gulf cargo to Red Sea ports
- The initiative comes as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted by the widening conflict in the region
- Since the US and Israel struck Iran last month, Tehran has moved to restrict passage through the waterway
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has launched an initiative to redirect shipping from ports in the Arabian Gulf to its Red Sea ports amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran war.
Transport Minister Saleh Al-Jasser, who also chairs the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani), launched the Logistics Corridors Initiative alongside Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority Governor Suhail Abanmi, Mawani President Suliman Al-Mazroua, and other officials, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The initiative will establish dedicated operational corridors to receive containers and cargo redirected from ports in the Kingdom's Eastern Region and other Gulf Cooperation Council states to Jeddah Islamic Port and other Red Sea coast ports.
Al-Jasser said the Kingdom was committed to ensuring supply-chain stability and the smooth flow of goods through global trade routes. Jeddah Islamic Port and other west coast ports, he added, were already playing a key role in accommodating shipments redirected from the east, while also linking Gulf cargo to regional and international markets.
The initiative comes as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted by the widening conflict in the region. Iran has long threatened to close the strait — the world's most critical oil and gas chokepoint, through which roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass — in the event of a war.
Since the US and Israel struck Iran last month, Tehran has moved to restrict passage through the waterway, sending freight rates soaring and forcing shipping companies to seek alternative routes.
Saudi Arabia's Red Sea ports offer a viable bypass, connecting Gulf cargo to global markets without passing through the strait.
