<div align="justify">Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi today unveiled his Cabinet with Khawaja Asif appointed as the country's first full-time foreign minister since 2013.<br /><br />President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath to 28 federal ministers and 18 state ministers at a ceremony at the President House in Islamabad, Dawn newspaper reported.<br /><br />The new Cabinet largely retained old faces but some new leaders were included as ministers and ministers of state.<br /><br />The cabinet members and their portfolios were finalised by Abbasi after six-hour-long consultations with his predecessor Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the resort town of Murree yesterday.<br /><br />Asif, earlier the defence minister in the Sharif government, will serve as the country’s new foreign minister.<br /><br /> The country remained without a foreign minister after 2013 when the PML-N came into power. The last foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, was appointed by the Pakistan People's Party.<br /><br />Ahsan Iqbal, former minister for planning, will take charge of the key interior ministry.<br /><br />Ishaq Dar will continue as finance minister whereas Pervez Malik will be the new minister for commerce in place of Khurram Dastagir Khan, who took charge of the defence ministry.<br /><br />Dar retained the finance ministry portfolio despite Supreme Court orders to register corruption cases against him.<br /><br />Marriyum Aurangzeb has retained the portfolio of State Information Minister.<br /><br />However, the powerful former interior minister Nisar Ali Khan has been excluded from the new Cabinet as he refused to join due to differences with the party leadership.<div align="justify"><br />Two days ago, Prime Minister Abbasi had delayed the formation of the Cabinet after meeting Sharif.<br /><br />Sharif has been staying in Murree since he vacated the official residence earlier this week after the Supreme Court disqualified him in connection with the Panama Papers scandal.<br /><br />The transition to the new Cabinet has taken exactly seven days since Sharif's ouster on July 28.</div></div>
<div align="justify">Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi today unveiled his Cabinet with Khawaja Asif appointed as the country's first full-time foreign minister since 2013.<br /><br />President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath to 28 federal ministers and 18 state ministers at a ceremony at the President House in Islamabad, Dawn newspaper reported.<br /><br />The new Cabinet largely retained old faces but some new leaders were included as ministers and ministers of state.<br /><br />The cabinet members and their portfolios were finalised by Abbasi after six-hour-long consultations with his predecessor Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the resort town of Murree yesterday.<br /><br />Asif, earlier the defence minister in the Sharif government, will serve as the country’s new foreign minister.<br /><br /> The country remained without a foreign minister after 2013 when the PML-N came into power. The last foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, was appointed by the Pakistan People's Party.<br /><br />Ahsan Iqbal, former minister for planning, will take charge of the key interior ministry.<br /><br />Ishaq Dar will continue as finance minister whereas Pervez Malik will be the new minister for commerce in place of Khurram Dastagir Khan, who took charge of the defence ministry.<br /><br />Dar retained the finance ministry portfolio despite Supreme Court orders to register corruption cases against him.<br /><br />Marriyum Aurangzeb has retained the portfolio of State Information Minister.<br /><br />However, the powerful former interior minister Nisar Ali Khan has been excluded from the new Cabinet as he refused to join due to differences with the party leadership.<div align="justify"><br />Two days ago, Prime Minister Abbasi had delayed the formation of the Cabinet after meeting Sharif.<br /><br />Sharif has been staying in Murree since he vacated the official residence earlier this week after the Supreme Court disqualified him in connection with the Panama Papers scandal.<br /><br />The transition to the new Cabinet has taken exactly seven days since Sharif's ouster on July 28.</div></div>