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Research current to 11 September 2026
Diplomacy • International Relations • Saudi Foreign Policy
Diplomacy, Foreign Policy and Saudi Arabia’s Engagement with the World
A research archive on the career of Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs — from the boardrooms of the Kingdom’s aerospace industry and the embassies in Washington and Berlin to nearly seven years at the head of the Kingdom’s oldest ministry.
Current office
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Latest verified engagement
10 September 2026
Place in the office
Sixth person to hold it
Before government
2001–2013
01 The diplomatic journey
Every milestone below is dated from an official Saudi source or at least two reputable publications. Where sources differ, the difference is recorded on the Career page.
Born in the then West Germany; later fluent in Arabic, English and German.
Vice-chairman of the Saudi Company for Maintenance and Operation.
Boeing’s representative on the board of Alsalam Aerospace Industries; vice-chairman, then chairman.
Senior adviser in the Crown Prince’s office; board member of Saudi Arabian Military Industries.
Adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then senior adviser at the Saudi embassy in Washington.
Appointed by royal order on 10 February 2019; credentials presented in Berlin on 27 March 2019.
Appointed by royal order of King Salman on 23 October 2019.
Presided over the G20 foreign ministers’ extraordinary meeting of 3 September 2020.
Beijing, Damascus and Tehran; chaired the Arab foreign ministers ahead of the Jeddah Arab League summit.
Launched the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution; co-chaired the UN conference with France.
Minister of Foreign Affairs. Latest verified public engagement: 10 September 2026.
02 Diplomacy in context
Saudi foreign policy is set at the highest level of the state and carried out by several institutions. This archive therefore separates three kinds of statement, and marks them throughout.
Saudi government policy
Positions stated by the King, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers or the ministry. Example: the ministry’s statement of 5 February 2025 that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel without an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
The minister’s role
Meetings he chaired, visits he made, agreements he signed and words he spoke on the record. Example: he chaired the Arab-Islamic ministerial committee on Gaza that visited Beijing, Moscow, London, Paris and Washington in November–December 2023.
Independent analysis
Assessments by research institutes, journalists or this archive’s editors, always attributed. Example: Carnegie analysts describe Riyadh’s approach to BRICS membership as a form of hedging.
Saudi Arabia is a founding member of the United Nations, the Arab League and OPEC, hosts the headquarters of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh and of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah, and in 2020 became the first Arab state to hold the G20 presidency. Since 2016 its foreign relations have also been shaped by Vision 2030, the programme to diversify the economy away from oil.
Faisal bin Farhan’s tenure has coincided with some of the most consequential shifts in the Kingdom’s regional diplomacy in a generation: the end of the Qatar rift in 2021, the restoration of relations with Iran in 2023, Syria’s return to the Arab League, and a sustained campaign for a Palestinian state. It has also coincided with war in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine and, in 2026, with direct attacks on Saudi territory during the regional war that began on 28 February 2026.
03 Areas of engagement
Bilateral diplomacy
Strategic partnership councils with the United Kingdom (2018), India (2019) and France (2024); coordination councils with Iraq, Türkiye and Brazil.
Country explorerMultilateral diplomacy
From the 2020 G20 presidency to co-chairing the July 2025 UN conference on the two-state solution.
Institutional mapRegional affairs
Economic diplomacy
55%
Share of real GDP from non-oil activities in 2025, according to the Vision 2030 annual report.
Trade, investment, Vision 2030Humanitarian diplomacy
113
Countries reached by KSrelief projects by the end of August 2026 — 4,457 projects worth US$8.57 billion (Arab News, 1 September 2026).
Humanitarian file04 Global network
An educational diagram, not a map. Selecting a region lists documented engagements only; it does not imply a special relationship with every state in that region.
Riyadh
No dedicated Latin America tour was found in the sources reviewed.
Brazil profile05 On the record
Exact wording as printed by the cited source. Remarks delivered in Arabic appear in the source’s English rendering and are labelled accordingly.
So I don’t ascribe to this zero-sum game. I think we are all capable of having multiple partnerships and multiple engagements, and the U.S. does the same in many instances.
I fail to understand how the continuation of war can be the only option … There must be other options, and therefore I will reiterate our call for a ceasefire and for diplomacy to prevail.
We stressed the importance of lifting unilateral and international sanctions imposed on Syria, as their continuation hinders the aspirations of the Syrian people to achieve development and reconstruction.
06 Recent & verified
Current to 11 September 2026 — each item is linked to its source
He attended the first meeting of the committee set up under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement between Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Sources: Anadolu Agency; Al Jazeera.
Attended the International Space Summit on behalf of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Arab News
Talks with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the centenary year of Saudi–Russian relations, covering energy markets, regional escalation, Palestine and Yemen. Arab News
Signed, with Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, an MoU establishing a foreign-minister-level Saudi–German strategic dialogue. Arab News
Third Japan–Saudi foreign ministerial strategic dialogue with Toshimitsu Motegi, on navigation through Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab and on energy. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
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From Washington and Berlin to New York, Beijing, Damascus and Moscow — the posts, the places and the documented record.
Type at least two characters. Results cover every page, timeline entry, speech and country profile.