A conversation with Prof. Steven Freeland about the relevance/obsolescence of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the 1979 Moon Agreement, space resources, competing legal regimes, rules-based governance, geopolitical rivalry and lunar futures. 

Biography: Steven Freeland

Steven Freeland is Emeritus Professor of International Law at Western Sydney University, and Professorial Fellow at Bond University. He also holds Adjunct positions at various other Universities/Institutes in Copenhagen, Vienna, Toulouse, Hong Kong, Montreal, Kuala Lumpur, Vancouver, Mumbai and London. 

Prior to becoming an academic, he had a 20-year career as an international commercial lawyer and an investment banker. 

He was a Member of the Australian Space Agency Advisory Board (2020-2024) and has been an advisor to many Governments on issues relating to national space legislative frameworks and policy. He represents the Australian Government at UNCOPUOS meetings and is Chair of a 5-year ‘Working Group on Legal Aspects of Space Resource Activities’. 

Among other appointments, he is a co-Principal of specialised space law firm Azimuth Advisory, a Member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on the Future of Space, a Member of the Abu Dhabi Space Debate Strategy Council, and an Honorary Director of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL).

Recorded on 23 July 2025

A conversation with Ambassador Arun K. Singh about technology as a currency for diplomacy, the evolving contours of the Indo-US partnership and Indo-French tech cooperation. 

Biography: Arun K. Singh

Indian Ambassador to the United States (2015-2016)
Indian Ambassador to France (2013-2015)
Indian Ambassador to Israel (2005-2008)

Ambassador Arun Singh has extensive experience across the globe, including as India’s Ambassador to the United States, Israel, and France. Throughout his distinguished 37-year career in the Indian Foreign Service, Ambassador Singh has served during pivotal periods in key global capitals, and was instrumental in shaping India’s policies, notably the continued progress in the US-India relationship; India’s closer ties to Israel; and the formulation and implementation of India’s policies related to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, including in the period following 9/11. He was a Member of India’s National Security Advisory Board over 2021-22. 

Ambassador Singh is currently a Senior Counsellor at The Cohen Group, a Visiting Professor at Ashoka University, and a Non- Resident Senior Fellow at Carnegie India.

In the spring of 2017, Ambassador Singh taught courses on US Foreign Policy in South Asia and Current Global Trends and Challenges at American University and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He was also a Distinguished Halle Fellow at Emory University, and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ambassador Singh holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Delhi University, where he specialized in econometrics, development policy, macroeconomics, and Indian economic history. He taught Economics at St. Stephen’s College of University of Delhi, before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1979.

Recorded on 18 July 2025

A conversation with Ambassador Rakesh Sood about nuclear technology, non-proliferation, disarmament, export controls and the evolving global threat portfolio. 

Biography: Rakesh Sood

Rakesh Sood joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1976, serving initially in Brussels, Dakar, Geneva, and Islamabad in different capacities, and as Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington, DC. 

Ambassador Sood set up the Disarmament and International Security Affairs Division in the Foreign Ministry and led it for nine years. During this period, he was in charge of multilateral disarmament negotiations (CWC, CTBT, BWC Verification Protocol, CCW), bilateral dialogues with Pakistan, strategic dialogues with countries such as the US, UK, France and Israel (especially after the nuclear tests in 1998), non-proliferation-related export controls and dealt with India’s role in the ASEAN Regional Forum, as part of the ‘Look East’ policy. He has served as India’s first Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and later as Ambassador to Afghanistan, Nepal and France. 

After retiring in 2013, Ambassador Sood was appointed Special Envoy of the Prime Minister for Disarmament and Non-proliferation, a position he held until May 2014. Since leaving government, he has been writing and speaking on foreign policy, regional and global security related issues at home and abroad. He is currently Distinguished Fellow at the Council for Strategic and Defence Research, a Delhi based think-tank. 

A selection of his writings and interviews may be seen at https://rakeshsood.in/

Recorded on 30 March 2025