Saad bin Mohammed Al-Arifi has been the head of the Saudi mission to the EU in Brussels since his appointment in January 2018.  He was formerly the Saudi ambassador to Yemen between 2012 and 2016, and was assistant secretary-general and head of mission for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) in Sanaa. Previously, Al-Arifi held several positions between 1983 and 2012 at the GCC, acting as assistant director general, and also heading the water, electricity, negotiations, transportation and communications departments. He has also worked as a projects engineer at the Saudi Development Fund, and is a member of the Saudi Council of Engineers, for whom he acts as a consultant. On Wednesday, Al-Arify met with Stefano Grassi, director of the Office of the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. During the meeting, they reviewed the bilateral relations between the Kingdom and the EU and the prospects for cooperation in various fields of common interest.