His speech was broadcast on Qatari television on Wednesday afternoon.

Later in the evening, a cabinet reshuffle was announced with Abdallah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thani is the new prime minister, replacing the long-serving Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, according to Qatar news agency.

Meanwhile Khalid al-Atiyah has been announced as foreign minister and Ali Sherif al-Emadi  the new finance minister.

The 33-year-old promised he would continue his father’s “path”

In terms of foreign policy, he said that his country rejects sectarianism in Arab societies while stressing  that Qatar was committed to the cause of Palestine, and would work to end Israeli occupation, according to Al Jazeera.

The news agency added that there wasn’t any mention of specific policies in places such as Syria.

Tamim is the fourth son of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and the second child of the Emir with his second wife, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned.

His father, Sheikh Hamad came to power in a coup when he overthrew his own father Sheikh Khalifa in June 1995 while he was in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Emir is famous for helping to establish the first Arab international news network, Al Jazeera.

Qatar holds the world’s third largest natural gas reserves and is the single largest supplier of liquefied natural gas. Qatar is also a member of OPEC and is a significant net exporter of oil.

The partnership agreements was signed today at the launch of Sheikha Moza’s global ‘Educate a Child’ initiative during the World Innovation Summit for Education that gathered over 10,000 participants from 100 countries in the Qatari capital, Doha.

The agreement with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) sets out a plan to advance primary education for Palestine refugee children, with a special focus on those whose access to school has been hampered by conflict.

“Vulnerable populations know best that primary education is one of the fundamental building blocks of a productive and happy life,” said UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, Filippo Grandi, adding that the new partnership recognized “the urgent needs of these children to be assisted with their education despite the deplorable conditions in which they live.”

Meanwhile, the agreement signed with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will provide technical and institutional support to scale up the provision of quality education to vulnerable out-of-school children in Iraq. Over 18 months, the project will reach 30,000 children, half of whom are girls.

“Educate a Child goes to where the needs are greatest and operates in a spirit of partnership and national ownership,” said UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova. “Together, working where educational deprivation runs high, where conflict has torn the social fabric, we will build the capacity of authorities and train teachers to set up and run accelerated learning programmes.”

Addressing the opening of the summit yesterday, Ms. Bokova stressed that education is becoming the big issue of the 21st century.

“If we want to bridge the gap between poverty and prosperity, between tolerance and intolerance, if we want to promote sustainable development and foster global citizenship, education has to be the priority and it is only through partnerships that we will achieve progress,” she said.

Educate a Child aims to significantly reduce the number of children worldwide missing out on their fundamental right to education, and will catalyse innovative learning solutions for the hardest-to-reach children – those affected by extreme poverty, conflict, natural disaster and prejudice.

The initiative is an extension of Sheikha Moza’s mandate as UNESCO Special Envoy on Basic and Higher Education, as a UN Millennium Development Goal Advocate, and Steering Committee member of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Education First Initiative