Lana Nusseibeh

Early life and education

Nusseibeh was born in Abu Dhabi in 1978. She is the daughter of Zaki Nusseibeh, who was born in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine, in 1946, was educated in England, and moved to Abu Dhabi in 1967, becoming an independent journalist and subsequently a government official of the United Arab Emirates. The granddaughter of Anwar Nusseibeh and Nuzha Nuseibeh, she is descended from the Nusseibeh family of Jerusalem.

She attended The British School – Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi for the early years of her schooling. She subsequently moved to the UK and attended Wycombe Abbey, a private girls' boarding school in Buckinghamshire, England, from 1990 to 1997.

She received bachelor's and master's degrees in history from Queens' College, University of Cambridge. She subsequently obtained an additional master's degree, in Israeli and Jewish Diaspora Studies, from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in 2003.

She speaks English, Arabic, French, and Hebrew.

Career

Nusseibeh was a consultant for UNESCO in Paris from 2000 to 2001, and an analyst with the Security and Terrorism Programme of the Gulf Research Center from 2004 to 2006. She was head of the International Renewable Energy Agency taskforce before beginning work within the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2009, first as Director of the Policy Planning Department and then as Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. She was Deputy Sherpa for the UAE's participation in the G20 and a member of the UK-UAE Ministerial Taskforce.

Nusseibeh was appointed UAE Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN by President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in September 2013, the first woman in the position. She was elected as one of the Vice Presidents for the 72nd session in 2017, representing the Asia-Pacific group of member states. She was formerly President of the UN Women Executive Board in 2017. She is also co-chair of the Friends of the Future of the UN. Nusseibeh is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Emirates Diplomatic Academy.

In October 2026, President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan formally nominated Nusseibeh as a candidate in the 2026 United Nations Secretary-General selection to succeed António Guterres. At the time, the race was deadlocked after all seven candidates received at least two red "no" votes by permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Awards and honours

UAE Prime Minister's Government Excellence Award (Medal of Pride)

Publications

Al Dabbagh, May; Nusseibeh, Lana (2009). "Women in Parliament and Politics in the UAE". Women, Leadership and Development in the Middle East: 367.