“Operating in space: current multilateral policy issues and challenges” was sponsored by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Wilton Park, and organized in partnership with the U.S. Department of State and the Secure World Foundation. It consisted of three regional dialogues this month: Africa, Central Asia and Middle East including Eastern Europe region, and Latin America and the Caribbean, and had 88 representatives from 38 states participating. These dialogues built on the outputs of the April 2019 Wilton Park event “Operating in space: towards developing protocols on the norms of behaviour,” and followed the first of this series which was held with Asian nations in Singapore in January 2020. These regional dialogues included demonstrations of space activity, threats, and current arrangements for governing operations in space, as well as discussions of regional perspectives and concerns.

SWF Executive Director Peter Martinez contributed an oral history of the UN COPUOS long-term sustainability guidelines, drawing from reflections on his personal experience as the former chair of the LTS working group. Washington Office Director Victoria Samson presented SWF’s Global Counterspace Capabilities Report, and along with Director of Program Planning Brian Weeden, acted as a subject matter expert and break-out group facilitator.