H.E Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh

His Excellency Mr. Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh is the Cultural Advisor to His Highness the President of the UAE Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the Chancellor of the United Arab Emirates University.

His continuous government service dates back prior to the foundation of the UAE. His Excellency functioned as the personal interpreter and adviser to the founder and first President of the UAE, His Highness the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, from the late sixties until 2004. During his career he also served as a Minister of State in the UAE Government, Press then Cultural Adviser to the UAE Ministry of Presidential Affairs, and Cultural Adviser to the second President of the UAE, His Highness the late Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed. He was the inaugural Director of Information in the UAE Federal Ministry of Information and established and managed the Office of Public and Cultural Diplomacy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. As Deputy Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, His Excellency helped develop strategies that promulgate understanding of UAE culture and values and advance international political, economic, and societal cooperation.

His Excellency helped establish the Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi in 2006 and served as the Chair of its Board of Trustees until September 2022. He chaired the UAE National Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee for its first years and is a member of the Board of the Emirates Diplomatic Academy, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, the Board of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the Board of the International Prize for Arab Fiction. He has also held Board roles at the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics, the Alliance Française in Paris, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, and the ‘Friends of Bayreuth: The Wagner Society’ in both Leipzig and Abu Dhabi.

HE has been elected to the following Academies:

• Membre étranger associé de l'Académie des sciences morales et politiques, Institut de France (2022)
• Member of the American Academy of Arts & Science (2020)
• Member of the European Academy of Science and Arts (2012)

His Excellency holds an M.A. in economics from Queens’ College, University of Cambridge and an honorary PhD in Human Sciences from the Al Quds Arab University in Jerusalem.

His Excellency has received many honours for his services to cultural diplomacy nationally and from foreign governments and international institutes. These include:

• The UAE Order of the Union medal (2021)
• Abu Dhabi Award (2007)
• The Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Foundation Cultural Personality of the Year Award UAE (2013)
• Cultural Diplomat of the Year, Abu Dhabi Cultural Summit (2017)
• Personality of the Year 2018 Emirates Literary Festival (2018)
• Exceptional Excellence Award Personality of the Year, Beirut Institute Summit Abu Dhabi(2019)
• Medal of Merit to Culture “Gloria Artis”- Republic of Poland (2010)
• The European Academy of Science and Arts, Ring of Tolerance (2012)
• The European Foundation for Culture, “European-Arab Culture Prize” (2013)
• The Golden Medal of Arts, Kennedy Centre Washington (2014)
• Officer of the Jordanian Order of Independence (1969)
• Commander of the British Royal Victorian Order CVO (1989)
• Commander of the Order of British Empire CBE (2013)
• Commander’s Cross of the German Order of Merit (2013)
• Chevalier of the French Legion d’Honneur (2001)
• Officer of the French Legion d’Honneur (2015)
• Officer of the French Order of Merit (August 1980)
• Commander of the French Order of Merit (2022)
• Commander of the French Order of the Palmes Academiques (2007)
• Commander of the French Order of Arts et Lettres (2008)
• Commander of the Italian Order of Merit (1983)
• Grand Officer Star of Italian Solidarity (August 2007)
• Officer of the Spanish Order of Merit (1999)
• Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria (2007)