Yousef Al Otaiba is the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States and Minister of State. His time in Washington, D.C. has been marked by several bilateral accomplishments in the fields of security, civil nuclear energy, health, education, culture, equal human rights and more. Among his biggest successes thus far include his involvement in the US-UAE 123 Agreement and the Abraham Accords normalization pact between the UAE and Israel in 2020. Shortly thereafter, TIME Magazine named him among the world’s top 100 most influential people.
Ambassador Al Otaiba helped bring the Emirates Leadership Initiative to the Center for Public Leadership in 2014. Beyond the Harvard Kennedy School, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Special Olympics, where he’s worked hard to develop new opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities, including the 2019 World Games in Abu Dhabi. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the American University in Cairo and has been closely affiliated with New York University Abu Dhabi, Meridian International Center, Children’s National Medical Center and the UAE Embassy’s Community Soccer Program.
Before his latest appointment, he worked as the Director of International Affairs for the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He previously studied at Cairo American College, Georgetown University and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at the National Defense University.