UAE Diplomat Lana Nusseibeh Emerges as Potential Candidate for UN Secretary-General

Lana Nusseibeh, the United Arab Emirates’ Minister of State, has emerged as a potential contender to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations. Incumbent Secretary-General António Guterres is due to leave office at the end of 2026. The selection process has become increasingly complicated amid disagreements among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and Nusseibeh’s possible candidacy could introduce new geopolitical dynamics.

According to a report by the Financial Times, citing diplomats, supporters of Nusseibeh have been contacting national missions at the United Nations to gauge support for her potential candidacy. She is well known within diplomatic circles because of her previous role as the UAE’s permanent representative to the UN. UN insiders reportedly believe she could announce her candidacy as early as this week.

Nusseibeh is a senior Emirati diplomat and politician. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. She later pursued studies in Israeli and Jewish Diaspora Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

She served as the UAE’s permanent representative to the United Nations from September 2013 to April 2024. During her tenure, she worked on issues including UN Security Council reform, the rights of women and girls, and international diplomatic cooperation.

In 2017, she chaired the executive board of UN Women and served as vice-president of the UN General Assembly. From 2017 to 2019, she also co-chaired intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform.

Nusseibeh has played a significant role in implementing the UAE’s foreign policy, advancing multilateral diplomacy at the United Nations, and maintaining diplomatic relations with Europe, the Middle East and other regions.