The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) was established in 1980 by the United Nations General Assembly to inform States and the global community on questions of international security, and to assist with disarmament efforts so as to facilitate progress toward greater security and economic and social development for all.
Jayantha Dhanapala was a Sri Lankan diplomat who served as member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and was a governing board member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Dhanapala was also a distinguished member of Constitutional Council of Sri Lanka and he was the Senior Special Advisor on Foreign Relations to President Maithripala Sirisena, and was Sri Lanka's official candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations, before withdrawing from the race on 29 September 2006. From 2007 he was the President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
Shyam Saran is an Indian career diplomat. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1970 and rose to become the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. Prior to his appointment as the Foreign Secretary he served as India's ambassador to Myanmar, Indonesia and Nepal and as its High Commissioner to Mauritius. Upon finishing his tenure as the Foreign Secretary, he was appointed the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Indo-US Civil Nuclear Issues and later as Special Envoy and Chief Negotiator on Climate Change.
Peter Richard Woolcott is an Australian public servant, diplomat and the former Australian Public Service Commissioner. He was previously the Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Woolcott has served as the Australia's High Commissioner to New Zealand, the Australian Ambassador for the Environment, the Australian Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, the Australian Ambassador to Italy, the Deputy Head of Mission in Jakarta, and the Consul-General in Honolulu.
Sérgio de Queiroz Duarte is a retired Brazilian career diplomat. His last position was as United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. He was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in July 2007 and retired in February 2012. Duarte currently serves as President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
Arundhati Ghose was an Indian diplomat. She was Permanent Representative of India to the UN Offices in Geneva and was head of the Indian delegation that participated in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in 1996. She also served as Ambassador to the Republic of Korea and the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Jayant Prasad is a former Indian civil servant of the Indian Foreign Service cadre who served as the Director General of the Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, a think-tank affiliated with the Indian Ministry of Defence between September 2015 and September 2018.
Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat is a former Indonesian diplomat. He served as an official in the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs for over two decades.
Prasad Kariyawasam is a Sri Lankan diplomat and the former Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the top diplomat in Sri Lanka. He was the International Affairs Adviser to Hon.Karu Jayasooriya, Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.He was the former Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States. with concurrent accreditation as High Commissioner for Sri Lanka to Trinidad & Tobago and Ambassador (designate) to Mexico. He was also the Permanent Observer of Sri Lanka to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS).He has also served as Sri Lankan Ambassador to India, Afghanistan and Bhutan.
Ajai Malhotra is a former Indian career diplomat who served as Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation. He is the Chairperson of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is an Indian diplomat and politician serving as the Minister of External Affairs of the Government of India since 30 May 2019. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha since 5 July 2019. He previously served as the Foreign Secretary from January 2015 to January 2018. He became the second ever diplomat to be appointed as India's External Affairs minister, after Natwar Singh.
Chinmaya Gharekhan is a former Indian diplomat.
Libran Nuevas Cabactulan is a Filipino career diplomat, who served as the 18th Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations, replacing former Ambassador and retired Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr.
Sood or Sud is an Indian surname. Notable people bearing the name Sood include:
Anil Wadha; born 26 May 1957 is an Indian civil servant who belongs to the Indian Foreign Service cadre. He has served as the Indian Ambassador to Italy, Poland, Oman and Thailand. He is currently a Senior Fellow & Cluster Leader at the Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi.
T. S. Tirumurti is a retired Indian civil servant (Ambassador) of the Indian Foreign Service cadre. He served as the Secretary to Government of India and later as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in New York when India became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 8th time.
Harsh Vardhan Shringla is Chief Coordinator for India’s G20 Presidency in 2023. He has previously served as Foreign Secretary of India and India's Ambassador to the United States, High Commissioner to Bangladesh, and Ambassador to Thailand.
Gaitri Issar Kumar is a retired Indian Foreign Service officer from the 1986 batch. Her last posting was as the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom. Prior to that, she served as Ambassador to Belgium, the European Union and Luxembourg. She also had stints as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Paris, and Counselor in the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva as well as at the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi.
Natarajan Krishnan was an Indian diplomat and negotiator who served in many capacities including as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in New York from 1981 to 86 and the President of the United Nations Security Council in 1985. He also set up the 1987 Africa Fund as Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's Special Envoy and was India's representative on UNESCO's Executive Board.
