02. Space for Diplomacy: Susmita Mohanty with Arun K. Singh

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