Zaki Nusseibeh

Zaki Nusseibeh is minister of state in the United Arab Emirates government. He was born in Jerusalem and studied economics at Cambridge University. In 1967, Nusseibeh settled in Abu Dhabi as a journalist, reporting on the foundation of the UAE by Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. A year later, Nusseibeh joined the newly formed government of Abu Dhabi and became the official interpreter for Sheikh Zayed. In 1975, Nusseibeh was attached directly to the Diwan (the Crown Prince’s Court) of Sheikh Zayed as Director of Information and later as the Press Advisor. In 2006, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Authority for Culture and Heritage, helped to establish the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, and was also involved in the founding of the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2017. As President of the Classical Concert Committee and as founding President of Abu Dhabi’s branch of the international Friends of Richard Wagner society, Nusseibeh is a promotor of classical music in the Arab world. Nusseibeh has also published translations of Gulf and Arab poetry into European languages. Nusseibeh was knighted in the Légion d’Honneur in 2015 and the Order of the British Empire in 2013, and received an honorary degree from the University of Jerusalem, as well as many other international awards and honours.