Senior officials of the Sharjah Museums Authority, previously the Sharjah Museums Department, have lauded the decision of H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, to establish the authority, saying that the move will bolster and complement the cultural project that Sharjah has been working on for over three decades.

The officials also said that the Emiri Decree No. 46 of 2017 to upgrade the Sharjah Museums Department into an authority that enjoys legal entity and full capacity to carry out steps and actions that are necessary to achieve its objectives, will provide a more comprehensive tool for taking the museum experience in the emirate to the next level.

Manal Ataya, Director-General of the Sharjah Museums Authority, expressed her gratitude to H.H. the Ruler of Sharjah for his continuous follow-up and promotion of culture and education in the emirate. She also thanked H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan for the special attention he pays to museums in the emirate out of his belief in their vital role in community education, and his relentless efforts to upgrade the overall museum experience in Sharjah.

"We congratulate all those who have been working at the Emirate’s various museums on the issuance of this Emiri Decree, which takes us in great strides forward and presents us with greater challenges to improve our knowledge, particularly with the tremendous progress in the museum sector and expansion of their services to accommodate more categories of society," she said.

"We at the Sharjah Museums Authority are proud of our achievements. These include our organisation of top international exhibitions in Sharjah and our provision of diverse educational programmes. Over the past 11 years, the authority has grown to employ more than 500 people and has been working to encourage Emirati cadres to follow a career in the cultural sector," Ataya added.