Member Details

Her Excellency Lana Zaki Nusseibeh serves as Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates. She is also the Foreign Minister’s Envoy responsible for relations with the European Union, most countries in Europe, and the United Nations in New York and Geneva.

Her Excellency previously held the position of Assistant Minister for Political Affairs and was granted the rank of Minister by Federal Decree in December 2021. From September 2013 until April 2024, she served as the UAE Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. During her tenure, she successfully led the UAE’s campaign to secure an elected seat on the UN Security Council for the 2022–2023 term, where she represented the country on the Council.

A steadfast advocate for the role of women in peace and security, Her Excellency served as President of the UN Women Executive Board in 2017. Under the direction of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, she worked with the UAE General Women’s Union and UN Women to launch the Arab Women Military and Peacekeeping Programme in 2019. She also served as Vice-President of the UN’s 72nd General Assembly and Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council reform across three consecutive sessions.

Prior to her appointment as Permanent Representative, Her Excellency established and directed the Ministry’s Policy Planning Department from 2009 to 2012 and served as the UAE Co-Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2010 to 2011. She began her public service career at the Ministry of State for Federal National Council Affairs, contributing to the UAE’s first parliamentary elections in 2006.

Her Excellency was awarded the UAE Prime Minister’s Government Excellence Award (the UAE Medal of Pride) in 2017 and is among the first graduates of the UAE Government Leaders Programme, established in 2008 under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy and serves on the Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Her Excellency holds an MA (Cantab) and BA (Hons) in History from the University of Cambridge and an MA with Distinction in Israeli and Jewish Diaspora Studies from SOAS, University of London.