Dr. Giovanni Zanalda, director of the Duke University Rethinking Diplomacy Program (RDP) and co-founder of RDP’s Space Diplomacy Lab represented RDP and SDL during the 2024 Meridian Diplomacy Forum which took place on May 1, 2024 in Washington D.C.
The forum is a signature annual gathering of the Meridian Center, a 60-year-old diplomacy center that connects leaders to drive solutions for global challenges. The 2024 forum was attended by over 200 diplomats, US government officials, business leaders, scientists, academics, and STEM students. Another 900 tuned in online.
Featured speakers this year included, among many other dignitaries, Major General Charles F. Bolden Jr (NASA administrator 2009-2017), Dr. Diane Howard (Director, Commercial Space Policy, National Space Council), Aarti Holla-Maini (Director, Office for Outer Space Affairs, United Nations), Her Excellency Mathilde Mukantabana (Ambassador to the U.S. from Rwanda), Valda Vikmanis-Keller (Director of the Office of Space Affairs, U.S. Department of State), The Honorable John Plumb (Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, U.S. Department of Defense), representatives the space agencies of Italy, Canada, the Philippines, India, and Ukraine, space industry and finance leaders from Axiom, SpaceX, C5 Capital, Space in Africa, as well as top space journalists.
Dr. Giovanni Zanalda moderated a fireside chat style featured speaker spotlight with Dr. Joel Joseph S. Marciano, Jr., Director-General, Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA). Their conversation was centered on the importance of international cooperation to emerging spacefaring nations like the Philippines, emphasizing the growing understanding that space represents an area of vast opportunity for problem solving, decision making, disaster planning, environmental monitoring, and economic growth for nations large and small.
It is no longer necessary to develop expensive launch capabilities to become a spacefaring nation. The commercial space industry has significantly reduced the cost of entry into the field and international government to government cooperation and collaboration has been key to expanding opportunities for nations to technologically leapfrog the expensive development phase of building a space program. The Philippines is developing not only its own satellite industry, but adjacent industries like semi-conductors and other technologies designed to withstand the tough space environment. The nation is also working towards training astronauts and is playing an active role in discussions around rules and norms for spacefaring nations to ensure human space activities are sustainable for the long term.
You can watch this conversation from the 2024 Meridian Diplomacy Forum here:
Watch the full morning session here:
Watch the full afternoon session here:
