Ghazi Al-Gosaibi

Ghazi bin Abdulrahman Al-Gosaibi is a Saudi minister, writer and poet who served as Minister of Labour and represented the Kingdom at Gulf and international meetings on labour and social affairs.[1][3][4] He also held the title "former Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the United Kingdom".[10] His career combined ministerial office with writing, for he published poetry collections and books, and his legacy continues in a university chair, an award and a cultural house in the Bahraini capital that bear his name.[5][9][11][12]

Ghazi Al-Gosaibi served as Minister of Labour, and on 11 October 2004 he arrived in the State of Kuwait at the head of the Kingdom's delegation to take part in the twenty-first periodic meeting of the Gulf Council of Ministers of Social Affairs and Labour.[1]

On 23 April 2006 the New Labour Law issued by Royal Decree No. M/51 dated 23 Sha'ban 1426 AH came into force, replacing the previous Labour and Workmen Law issued by Royal Decree No. M/21 dated 6 Ramadan 1389 AH.[2] The law raised the employment quota for persons with disabilities from 2% to 4%, and reduced the number of workers in the establishments to which that quota applies to 25 workers instead of 50 under the previous law.[2]

The law set the retirement age at 60 for male workers and 55 for female workers, permitted early retirement, and raised the annual leave entitlement from 15 days to 21 days, rising to 30 days a year for anyone who has completed five consecutive years in the service of the employer.[2]

He headed the Kingdom's delegation at the work of the 95th session of the International Labour Conference held in Geneva on 7 June 2006, and on its margins met a number of labour ministers from Arab, Islamic and friendly countries.[3]

At the Conference Palace in Riyadh, on 13 January 2008, he met the Minister of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled of the Republic of Afghanistan, Noor Mohammad Qarqin, and they discussed the Afghan labour force in the Kingdom, which numbers nearly 250,000 workers, as well as cooperation in training and qualification.[4]

His new poetry collection was published on 25 February 2008 by Dar Al-Qamarayn for Publishing and Media in Riyadh; it contains 55 poems he composed between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, treating national, human and emotional themes, the most prominent of which is the poem "A Letter to My Mother", which he addressed to his mother at the age of about seventeen.[5]

In April 2009 he gave a poetry evening at the headquarters of UNESCO in Paris, at which he recited a number of his poems, in the presence of the Director of the World Heritage Centre, Francesco Bandarin, the Director-General of the Conference of the Organisation and a number of French intellectuals and Arab diplomats.[6]

The second cultural seminar at the eighth edition of Souq Okaz, on 16 January 2015, shed light on his poetry, with the participation of Dr Saleh Ziyad, Dr Hatem Al-Taihani and the writer Ahmed Al-Luhaib and its moderation by Dr Saeed Al-Suraihi; the participants noted the diversity of his themes between classical and free verse and the continued flow of his poetry until his death.[8]

The writer Ahmed Al-Luhaib counted among the most prominent influences on his poems his surroundings, his family and his community, the death of his mother when he was nine months old, his grandmother's taking charge of his upbringing and her excessive indulgence of him, in addition to the mark of the Holy Quran on his poems after he memorised it in childhood.[8]

On 2 December 2014 the scholarly seminar "Ghazi Al-Gosaibi: The Person and the Achievements" was held at Al Yamamah University in Riyadh under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Governor of the Riyadh Region; the engineer Abdulaziz Al-Zamil reviewed the administrative aspects of Ghazi Al-Gosaibi's career, describing him as "the seasoned man of letters", his colleague during his service as Minister of Industry and Electricity, and noting his distinction by clarity of vision, integrity and the achievement of results that benefit the citizen.[7]

The Ministry of Education decided to include his book "Life in Administration" within the administrative skills subject for secondary-school students (the credits system) from the following year, and His Excellency the Minister of Education, Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Issa, launched the project for adopting the book and presented it to secondary-school students on 5 March 2018.[9]

On 5 December 2019 a cultural seminar on his legacy was held in London, the occasion at which he bore the title "His Excellency the former Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the United Kingdom".[10]

The Ghazi Al-Gosaibi Chair for Developmental and Cultural Studies at Al Yamamah University announced on 9 October 2021 the Ghazi Al-Gosaibi Award in its first round with three tracks supporting the wheel of development and advancement in the Kingdom, namely literature, administration and development, and volunteering; the award was to be launched on 11 October 2021 and is given once every two years with a prize of one hundred thousand riyals for each branch.[11]

On 11 September 2025 His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Special Adviser to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the King Abdulaziz Foundation, visited "Manamat Al-Gosaibi" in the Bahraini capital, a cultural house belonging to the Sheikh Ibrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Centre for Culture and Research that contains a museum documenting his literary and intellectual contributions and his service in the Kingdom and the Kingdom of Bahrain.[12]

Q: Who is Ghazi Al-Gosaibi? A: Ghazi bin Abdulrahman Al-Gosaibi is a Saudi minister, writer and poet who served as Minister of Labour and held the title "former Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the United Kingdom".[1][10]

Q: What are the most prominent provisions of the New Labour Law that came into force on 23 April 2006? A: It was issued by Royal Decree No. M/51 dated 23 Sha'ban 1426 AH, replacing the previous Labour and Workmen Law; it raised the employment quota for persons with disabilities from 2% to 4%, reduced the number of workers in the establishments to which that quota applies to 25 instead of 50, set the retirement age at 60 for male workers and 55 for female workers, and raised annual leave to 21 days, rising to 30 days after five consecutive years.[2]

Q: Where did he recite his poetry? A: At a poetry evening at the headquarters of UNESCO in Paris in April 2009 [6], and the second cultural seminar at the eighth edition of Souq Okaz shed light on his poetry on 16 January 2015.[8]

Q: Were his books included in school curricula? A: Yes, the book "Life in Administration" was included within the administrative skills subject for secondary-school students (the credits system) from the following year, and the book was presented to secondary-school students on 5 March 2018.[9]

Q: What recognitions and institutions bear his name? A: A seminar, "Ghazi Al-Gosaibi: The Person and the Achievements", was held at Al Yamamah University on 2 December 2014 [7]; the Ghazi Al-Gosaibi Award was announced on 9 October 2021 in its first round with three tracks, with its launch set for 11 October 2021 [11]; and on 11 September 2025 "Manamat Al-Gosaibi" in the Bahraini capital was visited.[12]

The career of Ghazi Al-Gosaibi combined the Ministry of Labour and the entry into force of the New Labour Law on 23 April 2006, the representation of the Kingdom at Gulf and international forums, poetic output, and a renewed cultural legacy in an academic chair, an award and a cultural house that bear his name.[2][11][12] Related topics on the platform include Souq Okaz, Riyadh City and Eastern Province.