KUWAIT: An Amiri decree was issued on Tuesday appointing new education and oil ministers to complete the Cabinet line-up, as the two posts were being held by the minister of higher education and minister of finance respectively on a temporary basis. Jalal Al-Tabtabaei, 57, a long-serving bureaucrat at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, was appointed education minister after the post was held by the higher education minister on a temporary basis.

Tareq Al-Roumi, former chairman of Kuwait Oil Tanker Co, was appointed oil minister, replacing Emad Al-Ateeqi, who resigned about two months ago on health grounds. The 70-year-old Roumi also served in various positions for several decades in the oil sector.

With the two appointments, the Cabinet now has a 16-minister line-up headed by HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, who was appointed as premier in May. The two ministers took the constitutional oath before HH the Amir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah at Bayan Palace, in the presence of HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah. Senior state officials attended the swearing-in ceremony.