Zaki Nusseibeh

Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh is an advisor at the Presidential Court and interpreter for the President of the United Arab Emirates, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He has held this post for over four decades, serving the founder of the UAE Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in this capacity from 1968 until his passing away in 2004.

Born in Jerusalem and educated in Jerusalem and the United Kingdom before settling in Abu Dhabi, Zaki Nusseibeh began his career there as a journalist in 1967 and worked for the newly established Government of Abu Dhabi Civil Service Department. He then became Director of Information in the Abu Dhabi then the UAE Ministry of Information and Tourism [http://www.indexuae.com/Top/Government/Government_of_UAE] . In this capacity he edited the first English newspaper to be published by the Abu Dhabi Government and participated in establishing its first Arabic newspaper. He also worked as a broadcaster and program producer and helped in developing Abu Dhabi’s Broadcasting and media services.

Mr. Nusseibeh is currently Deputy Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage Authority [http://www.adach.ae/index-en.php] . He is a Director on a number of Boards including the Abu Dhabi Center for Documentation and Research [http://www.cdr.gov.ae] , the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi [http://www.paris-sorbonne-abudhabi.ae] and the Emirates National School [www.ens.sch.ae/] .

Other positions include:

• Member of the Permanent Higher Executive Committee of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award [http://www.zayedaward.com/english/id.htm]
• Trustee of the Arab Bookers Literary Prize [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Prize_for_Arabic_Fiction]
• President of the Alliance Française of Abu Dhabi [http://www.af-aboudabi.net/main.asp?LngID=en]
• President of the Abu Dhabi Classical Concert Committee [http://www.adconcert.com/web/index.php]
• President of Abu Dhabi’s branch of the international ‘Friends of Richard Wagner’ society [http://www.richard-wagner-verband.de/english/]

Mr. Nusseibeh graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Masters degree in Economics. He has published translations of Gulf and Arab poetry into several European languages.

Decorations and Awards

• Abu Dhabi Award (2007) [http://www.zayedaward.com/english/id.htm]
• Grand Officer Star of Italian Solidarity [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_orders_of_merit] (August 2007)
• Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria [http://www.hofburg.at/show_content2.php?s2id=8&language=en] (January 2007)
• Commander of the French Order of Arts et Lettres [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordre_des_Arts_et_des_Lettres] (July 2008)
• Commander of the French Order of the Palmes academiques [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmes_académiques] (February 2007)
• Commander of the British Victorian Order (CVO) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Victorian_Order] (July 1989)
• Commander of the Italian Order of Merit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_orders_of_merit] (1983)
• Chevalier of the French Legion d’Honneur [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Légion_d'honneur] (May 2001)
• Officer of the Spanish Order of Merit (July 1999)
• Officer of the French Order of Merit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordre_national_du_Mérite] (August 1980)
• Officer of the Jordanian Order of Independence(1969)