Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh Ends Tenure as Permanent Representative of the UAE to the UN

Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh ends her tenure as Permanent Representative of the UAE to the UN with her final meeting with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in that capacity and will be succeeded by Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab, who has been appointed by the President of the UAE and will present his credentials on Monday.

Ambassador Nusseibeh, who has returned to Abu Dhabi and will continue to serve as UAE Assistant Minister for Political Affairs and Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, thanked the Secretary-General for his steadfast partnership and for supporting the UAE’s efforts to champion priority issues, including on Gaza and Afghanistan, as well as promoting tolerance, peace, and co-existence, advancing the role of women and girls worldwide, and driving climate action.

Ambassador Nusseibeh also held a farewell meeting with Ambassador Dennis Francis, President of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly.  

Ambassador Nusseibeh has served as Permanent Representative since September 2013. During the UAE’s 2022-2023 term on the UN Security Council, she drove the adoption of several landmark Council resolutions co-penned by the UAE, including resolution 2686, which acknowledged for the first time that hate speech, racism, gender discrimination, and disinformation contributes to the outbreak, escalation, and recurrence of conflict; resolution 2681, which condemned the Taliban’s decision to ban Afghan women from working for the UN in Afghanistan; and resolution 2720, which laid the groundwork for the establishment of a UN mechanism to scale-up and streamline the flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. 

“It has been the honour of a lifetime to serve the UAE for over a decade at the United Nations.  The international order based on the rule of law and respect for each other keeps all of us safe and able to thrive,” said Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh. “Against a backdrop of critical global challenges and ever sharper polarization, preserving this system, and adapting it to ensure its equity, is more important than at any time in recent history. The UAE Permanent Mission will continue to pursue this objective in our work at the UN under the able leadership of Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab and a committed team of dedicated multilateralists who I have been proud to work alongside these past years.”

During the UAE’s Council term, Ambassador Nusseibeh sought to find common ground among UNSC Member States during extremely challenging times for international peace and security – from the Russia-Ukraine war and great power polarization, to Israel’s most recent war on Gaza and the urgent need to work relentlessly for a two state solution of Palestine alongside Israel.

Before the Security Council, she also served as Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council reform from 2017-2019. In this role, Ambassador Nusseibeh led and guided discussions on reform of the Security Council. In 2017, she served as President of the UN Women Executive Board and Vice President of the UN General Assembly.

In 2016-17, Ambassador Nusseibeh co-chaired the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly. During her co-chairmanship, she oversaw a procedural change to the selection mechanism for a new UN Secretary-General, leading to a more participatory and transparent process.   

From 2015, Ambassador Nusseibeh co-chaired the Friends of the Future of the UN with the United Kingdom, an unofficial forum for frank exchange on the most pressing issues affecting the UN’s future.

Throughout her tenure at the UAE Mission to the UN, Ambassador Nusseibeh has been a principled and pragmatic voice for UAE foreign policy on the world stage, built cross regional and multilateral partnerships, and found innovative ways to address global challenges. Moving forward, the UAE Mission will continue to be a committed partner to the UN, in New York and around the world.