By Stuart Thomson

Long-serving Arabsat CEO Khalid bin Ahmed Balkheyour has resigned and will be replaced as head of the Saudi Arabia-based satellite operator by Badr bin Nasser Al-Suwaidan, currently CTO.

Arabsat’s board meeting last week selected Haitham Al-Ohali, Vice Minister at Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as its new chairman, and accepted Khalid bin Ahmed Balkheyour’s resignation.

Haitham Al-Ohali replaces previous chairman Nasser bin Saleh Al-Hejailan.

Before joining Arabsat, Badr Al-Suwaidan worked as a supervisor of the Institute of Research and Space in King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia and participated in several programmes and space missions, including working on the first Saudi Geo-orbiting satellite SG1 in cooperation with Arabsat, and the Saudi satellite Sat 4 in cooperation with the US Space Agency NASA.

Haitham Al-Ohali said: “Arabsat succeeded in embodying the spirit of the Arab League Charter and strengthening the ties and the joint Arab work among the Arab League states economically, culturally and in other developmental fields. Also, since its establishment in 1976, Arabsat has succeeded in broadcasting the message of the Arab world to more than 170 million viewers in more than 100 countries around the world. I am looking forward to working together with the members of the board and the executive management to complete Arabsat mission.”