Belgium names woman envoy to Saudi Arabia

Belgium has become the first country in the world to appoint a woman as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia. 

Dominique Mineur, who is currently posted in the United Arab Emirates, will move to the Saudi capital of Riyhad to head up the embassy there from next summer, Belgian public broadcaster VRT reports. 

The move by Belgium is an international first. Yekaterina Majering Mikadze, a Georgian diplomat appointed in 2010, previously had responsibility for Saudi Arabia, but was based in Kuwait and covered a number of neighbouring countries.  When Georgia later opened an embassy specifically for Saudi Arabia in 2015, it appointed a man as ambassador there.

Belgium will also be appointing Véronique Petit, another woman, as its ambassador to Iran. Women in Iran are forced to cover their hair and face unequal treatment in the country’s justice system; though they participate in the labour market and have a higher representation than men in many academic fields, including engineering and the sciences. 

Britain’s ambassadors to Saudi Arabia have always been men. The incumbent, Simon Collis, converted to Islam and in 2016 was the first UK ambassador to perform the Hajj pilgrimage.