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Leadership

HE Omar Saif Ghobash

— Assistant Minister of Public and Cultural Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation

Born in the emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah in 1971, Omar Saif Ghobash received a law degree from Balliol College, Oxford University and a mathematics degree from the University of London. 

Ambassador to the Republic of France in 2017 & the Russian Federation (2008-2017). 

Author of Letters to a Young Muslim, personal & insightful letters to his sons, a vital manifesto tackling the dilemmas facing young Muslims & everyone navigating the complexities of today’s world

Established the Arabic Booker Prize for fiction & Saif Ghobash-Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation in memory of his father who was UAE’s first Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. 

The Office of Public and Cultural Diplomacy was created by HE Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh in 2018.

HE Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh

— Cultural Advisor to the President of the UAE and Chancellor of the United Arab Emirates University (Al Ain)

Born in Jerusalem in 1946 and obtained a Master’s Degree in Economics and Politics from the University of Cambridge. Following his graduation, he made the United Arab Emirates his home and soon after began his service in the newly established Government of Abu Dhabi Department of Civil Service. His polyglot nature brought him to the attention of the royal family — specifically, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first president of the United Arab Emirates, to whom he became translator, interpreter, and adviser. Assigned the role of Minister of State in 2017, he did oversee public and cultural diplomacy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and is the Cultural Advisor at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs. In October 2020, he was appointed Chancellor of the UAE University and Cultural Advisor to the UAE President in February 2021.