Saeed Bin Mubarak Al Hajeri took on a new operational responsibility in June 2025, assuming the chairmanship of the Emirates Drug Establishment, the government body charged with building out the UAE’s pharmaceutical sector. The appointment adds a concrete infrastructure mandate to a ministerial portfolio already anchored in economic diplomacy, placing Al Hajeri in direct oversight of domestic drug manufacturing capacity and the UAE’s positioning in global pharmaceutical markets.
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Al Hajeri holds the rank of Minister of State, with a portfolio concentrated on the Asia-Pacific region and bilateral economic engagement. He serves as the UAE’s Sherpa to the BRICS Group and as the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ Special Envoy for Economic Affairs to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Both roles place him at the operational center of the UAE’s international economic strategy, translating policy into active diplomatic delivery.
The Emirates Drug Establishment chairmanship fits a recognizable pattern in Al Hajeri’s career: governance of large, strategically significant institutions. He previously served as Executive Director and Board Member of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund managing substantial portions of the emirate’s capital. He has chaired Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, one of the country’s largest financial institutions, and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), which operates critical energy infrastructure across the region.
His board-level reach extends further. Al Hajeri has served on the boards of Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (Etisalat), the dominant national telecoms operator; Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), which oversees major hospitality and tourism assets; and Abu Dhabi Investment Company (ADIC), where he held the position of Vice Chairman.
Meanwhile, his governance responsibilities span well beyond the commercial and sovereign sectors. Al Hajeri sits on the boards of Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi and INSEAD Abu Dhabi, both operating as international higher education institutions within the country. He is affiliated with AlephYa Education and serves as a Board Member of Zayed University. His remit also includes the Zayed Higher Organization for People of Determination, which delivers services and support for individuals with disabilities, and membership on the Board of Governors of the CFA Institute, the international credentialing body for investment professionals.
Al Hajeri holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Lewis and Clark College and completed the Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School. In 2007, the World Economic Forum named him one of its Young Global Leaders.
The trajectory from sovereign wealth management and state-owned enterprise leadership into ministerial and diplomatic roles reflects a deliberate integration of economic policy with foreign relations execution. Whether the Emirates Drug Establishment, under his chairmanship, can meaningfully accelerate the UAE’s domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing ambitions will be a practical test of that model.