Saudi Arabia reshuffles religious and Shura councils

Riyadh - King Salman had appointed Ali bin Nasser Al Ghafis as labour minister to replace Mufrej Al Haqbani

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, has replaced Kingdom's labour minister, state media reported on Friday.
In a royal decree read on state television, King Salman also reshuffled the country's top religious body, the Council of Senior Scholars, and the Shura Council, which advises the government.
The changes come as the kingdom prepares to implement reforms proposed by its Vision 2030, which aims to reduce dependence on oil, attract foreign investments and promote more cultural openness.
State television said King Salman had appointed Ali bin Nasser Al Ghafis as labour minister to replace Mufrej Al Haqbani.
Ghafis is currently head of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, a network of colleges set up to train young Saudis in the trades.
The program had long been regarded as ineffective but received a new lease on life under former labour minister Adel Fakieh, who is now a leading figure in the Kingdom's initiative to transform its oil-dependent economy.
King Salman also changed the secretary-general of the country's consultative Shura Council, Mohammed Al Amro, and replaced several members of the assembly.
Some members of the council have recently come under fire on social media for proposing or supporting cuts to some social benefits and the raising of prices of some basic services.
Labour woes
Haqbani faced a slew of challenges in his time at the helm of the Labour Ministry, as a sharp drop in crude prices slashed government revenues and took a toll on economic growth.
The unemployment rate rose to 12.1 per cent in the third quarter, up from 11.6 per cent the previous quarter.
The Kingdom's economic reform plan, led by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has set targets to cut the jobless rate to 7 per cent by 2030 and raise women's participation in the labour force to 30 per cent from 22 per cent.
Modern-thinking scholars
The appointment of more modern-thinking clerics to the Council of Senior Scholars also appears to support the reform plan.
New members include Mohammed Al Issa, a previous minister of justice and former member of the council often cited by liberals as the sort of moderate Wahhabi cleric that reformers in the royal family want to promote.
Another new member, Sulaiman Aba Al Khail, was formerly head of the religiously-oriented Imam bin Saud University and described by Saudi Twitter users as liberal.
Aba Al Khail was quoted in an interview with Al Watan newspaper last month as saying that some scholars have corrupted the minds of young Saudis.
In recent years, however, the government has promoted more moderate clerics and opened up the council to include scholars from the other main branches of jurisprudence beyond the Hanbali school followed by Wahhabis.

• Saudi Arabia