His Excellency Salem bin Khalid Al Qassimi was appointed the Minister of Culture and Youth in February 2023. In his current role, His Excellency is responsible for the strategic and policy direction of the UAE’s culture and youth sectors. He leads the Ministry’s initiatives to enable a robust cultural and creative ecosystem in the country and ensure its sustainability and active contribution to the local economy.

Helming multilateral engagements with the UAE’s global and regional partners on international platforms, His Excellency represents the country on high-level global fora related to culture and creativity and heritage preservation.

His Excellency was the Permanent Delegate of the UAE to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization "UNESCO" where he contributed to highlighting the country’s efforts and success endeavors, in addition to strengthening relations with other permanent delegates and overseeing the implementation of many joint projects that aims to enhance human and cultural cooperation.

He has previously served as the Assistant Undersecretary for Arts and Heritage at the Ministry of Culture and Youth, where he led the implementation of high-level projects on national identity, Arabic language, Islamic arts, theatre, literature, archaeology, film and architecture to name few.

His Excellency holds a Bachelor of Science in Design Management from the American University of Sharjah, as well as a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science & Policy from Columbia University and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from Paris Sorbonne University, Abu Dhabi/Paris.