![The former culture minister, 65, has been sworn in before the ruling family council on Saturday, according to local media reports [File: Tariq Al Ali/Reuters]](/get/maximage/20200111_1578724549-243083.jpg?1635250003)
The former culture minister, 65, has been sworn in before the ruling family council on Saturday, according to local media reports [File: Tariq Al Ali/Reuters]
Oman has named H M Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said as the country's new ruler following the death of his cousin HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, according to Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Muscat.
The former culture minister has been sworn in before the ruling family council on Saturday, local media outlets al-Watan and al-Roya reported.
Haitham bin Tariq, the culture minister, was sworn in shortly after modern Oman's founding father was laid to rest after his death on Friday at the age of 79.
"We will follow the path of the late sultan," Sultan Haitham, 65, said in his first public speech which was aired live on state television.
He expressed support for "our country's foreign policy of peaceful living among nations and peoples... and not interfering in the internal affairs of others, respecting nations' sovereignty and international cooperation."
Sultan Qaboos transformed the Arabian Peninsula nation from a backwater into a modern state with a thriving tourism industry, thanks to the country's crystal waters and scenic mountain ranges.
But it was the Sultan's policy of neutrality and non-interference that elevated Oman's standing as a "Switzerland of the Middle East" and made him an important go-between.
The late sultan, who was unmarried and had no children, left no apparent heir. Under the constitution, his successor was to be selected in a meeting of the royal family.
If they could not agree, the person chosen by the sultan and named in a sealed letter was to succeed him. State TV said that the letter had been opened, without elaborating as to why.
"Haitham bin Tariq was sworn in as the new sultan of the country... after a meeting of the family which decided to appoint the one who was chosen by the sultan," the government said in a tweet.
The late Sultan Qaboos, one of the Middle East's longest-serving rulers who maintained the country’s neutrality in the region, had been ill for some time and was believed to have been suffering from colon cancer.
The 79-year-old ruled Oman since 1970. He had no children and had not publicly appointed a successor to rule the nation's 4.5 million people.
