Saudi Gazette report

OSLO — Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Norway Amal Yahya Al-Moallimi presented on Thursday her credentials as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman in Norway to the Crown Prince of Norway Prince Haakon. The Norwegian Crown prince received the credentials on behalf of King Harald V.

Al-Moallimi has become the second Saudi woman to hold the post of the Kingdom’s ambassador to a country after Princess Reema Bint Bandar, ambassador to the United States. She took oath as the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Norway in front of King Salman and in the presence of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman in a virtual ceremony held on Oct. 20 last year. Her appointment represents the vibrant entry of women to the prestigious position of envoys that were hitherto a monopoly of male diplomats.

Al-Moallimi assumes the new diplomatic position after serving key positions in a brilliant academic career spanning over 23 years. She held the high-ranking position of Director General of Organizations and International Cooperation at Saudi Human Rights Commission since 2019, after holding several leading professional positions in the fields of education and social training and development.

Al-Moallimi, a daughter of Qunfudhah city in the Makkah region, comes from a family background associated with representing the Kingdom abroad. She is the sister of Abdullah Al-Moallimi, permanent representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations in New York, and daughter of the late eminent writer Lt. Gen. Yahya Al-Moallimi.

She holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University of Denver in the United States of America. She got her Bachelor of Arts in the English language from Princess Noura Bint Abdul Rahman University in Riyadh, in addition to a Fellowship from the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Al-Moallimi, who has incomparable expertise, began her career in the field of education, training, and social development, where she worked as a teacher for five years, and as a mentor for eight years, in addition to her work for one year in the Educational Training Department at the Ministry of Education.

Al-Moallimi subsequently held the position of director of the women’s branch at the King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue between 2013 and 2015 and was a member of several committees, including the Supervisory Committee for the Municipal Elections in 2016 and the National Committee for Narcotics Control, as well as a preparation consultant for the Saudi Television.