Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Angari was until recently Saudi ambassador to France, a position he held since his appointment by royal decree in 2015.  During his tenure, he focused on promoting tourism in Saudi Arabia and developing bilateral ties, especially in higher education and research exchange.  Born in 1952, Al-Angari was deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs between 1983 and 1984, and became minister in 1990.  As minister of higher education between 1991 and 2010, he increased the number of government universities from seven to 34, and established hundreds of colleges nationwide. He also supervised and led the implementation of the country’s scholarship program. Prior to that, Al-Angari was an assistant professor at King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh between 1981 and 1983.  He joined KSU soon after he received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Florida. In 2017, he received an honorary doctorate from Umm A-Qura University in Makkah. On Friday, the Saudi Embassy in Paris held a farewell ceremony for Al-Angari. He thanked all the staff, and said he hopes that as the ambassador he was able to meet some of the aspirations of the Saudi leadership in preserving the Kingdom’s interests and strengthening bilateral ties. He wished the staff luck in their mission to promote and serve Saudi Arabia.