Amr Salem
Amr Salem, Minister of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection, was appointed in the new cabinet’s lineup, succeeding Talal al-Barazi.
Salem studied at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Universities of Aleppo and Damascus. He completed his education and worked in informatics engineering at the University of Lausanne, in Switzerland, between 1978 and 1983.
He worked for Microsoft in the United States. In 2005, he was then summoned to Syria by the Syrian regime president, Bashar al-Assad. His job was to help Assad and to be one of the founders of the Syrian Scientific Society for Informatics.
From 2005 to 2007, he served as Minister of Communications and Technology. He was also an advisor to Assad.
Amr Salem left the Ministry of Communications due to a corruption case, in 2007. This case comes as a result of a contract with the Chinese company POCO, in which the service of billing and interconnection system in the institution was provided. However, the decision to acquit Salem from the corruption case was taken a year after his departure from the ministry.
Boutros al-Hallaq
Boutros al-Hallaq was appointed Minister of Information in the new cabinet, succeeding Imad Sarah.
Boutros Al-Halak has held the position of Vice President of Damascus University for Scientific Affairs, as of 23 March.
He holds a Ph.D. in Media Institutions Management from the Faculty of Media at Cairo University in 1999. He also holds a Master’s degree in Public Relations and Advertising from Cairo University.
Since 2007, he has served as a professor of public relations and advertising at the Faculty of Media at Damascus University. He was a faculty member in the Department of Journalism at the Faculty of Arts at Damascus University, from 2000 to 2004.
From 2013 to 2017, Hallaq served as Dean of the Faculty of Mass Communication at Damascus University. In 2017, he then served as Head of the Public Relations and Media Department at the university.
Mohamed Seifeddin
Mohamed Seifeddin, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, was appointed to the new cabinet’s lineup, succeeding Salwa Abdullah.
Mohamed Khaled Seifeddin holds a university degree in law from Damascus University, in 1992.
Since 2012, he was appointed as Assistant to the Minister of Public Works and Housing for Legal Affairs and Services. Between 2004 and 2012, he was the Director of Administrative Affairs at the Ministry of Public Works.
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He served as head of the Personnel Affairs Department in the Ministry of Housing and Reconstruction. For more than 10 years, he was the director of labor, administrative, and legal affairs at the Dummar Cement Factory.
He was assigned several tasks. Since 2013, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Company for Electricity and Communications Works. From 2010 to 2011, he was a member of an advisory committee in the General Authority for Real Estate Development and Investment. Between 2010 and 2014, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the General Cement Corporation.
Abdullah Abdullah
Abdullah Abdullah was appointed as Minister of State in the composition of the new cabinet. He is the presidential candidate who was alongside the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, in the presidential elections, three months ago.
Born in 1956, he is from Aleppo. He holds a law degree from Damascus University.
He is a member of the Political Bureau of the Socialist Unionist Party and a former member of the Executive Office of the Student Union.
From 2003 to 2007, and again from 2012 to 2016, Abdullah Abdullah was a member of the People’s Assembly.
He also served as Minister of State for People’s Assembly Affairs between 2016 and 2020.
Diala Barakat
Diala Barakat was appointed as Minister of State in the new cabinet formation. She was born in 1980, and is from Homs. She is a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), as well as the Party’s Dean of environmental affairs. She also served as SSNP’s director of the Zaidal Directorate.
She also held the position of assistant director of the Department of Antiquities and Museums in Homs. She also served as head of the excavation division in the same department.
The new cabinet’s formation coincides with the deteriorating economic and living crises in regime-controlled areas; prices of food and basic necessities have witnessed a significant and repeated increase. These crises have left Syrians hopeless regarding the new cabinet, especially since it is still headed by Hussein Arnous.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
