Saudi Arabia to let women drive at last

Saudi Arabia to let women drive at last

Washington (CNN)Saudi Arabia is easing restrictions on women driving, finally allowing almost half its population to get behind the wheel.

A royal decree has been issued that will allow women in the country to drive, the Saudi Foreign ministry said Tuesday on its official Twitter account.
A committee has been formed to implement the ruling and it will present recommendations within 30 days. Then the government will have until June 24, 2018, to implement the new decree.
"This is a historic big day in our kingdom," Prince Khaled bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, said Tuesday in a briefing with reporters.
State Department spokesman Heather Nauert said the US "would certainly welcome that" news, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote on his official Twitter it was "an important step in the right direction."