Saudi Arabia's new foreign minister, Ibrahim al-Assaf, has stressed that the kingdom was not in crisis, saying it was witnessing a transformation.
"The issue of Jamal Khashoggi... really saddened us, all of us," Assaf told Agence France Presse in response to a question on the Saudi journalist’s murder.
"But all in all, we are not going through a crisis, we are going through a transformation," he said at his residence in Riyadh.
In Thursday's cabinet reshuffle, his predecessor Adel Jubeir was appointed minister of state for foreign affairs.
"Adel represented Saudi Arabia and will continue to represent Saudi Arabia... around the world," Assaf said.
"We complement each other," he added.
Meanwhile, Saudi Ambassador to Washington Prince Khalid bin Salman congratulated the new ministers on their posts.
He also extended his congratulations to both Assaf and Jubeir, saying “their respective appointments will help advance Saudi diplomacy.”
