On 25 August 2025, Ms. Sasirit Tangulrat, Director-General of the Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs, along with Lt. Sorawud Preededilok, Minister attached to Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), and officials of the Ministry had a discussion with Ms. Feziwe Matsebula, Senior Officer in Planning and Programming at the SADC Secretariat in Gaborone, Republic of Botswana.

The Thai side reaffirmed Thailand‘s commitment to fostering the longstanding friendship with the African region, noting that in 1955 Thailand was one of the 29 countries participating in the Asian-African Conference, also known as the Bandung Conference. The Director-General outlined Thailand’s policy towards Africa, including the aim to enhance Thailand’s engagement with African regional and subregional organizations. The Thai side also expressed its intention to appoint the Ambassador of Thailand to Botswana, with residence in Pretoria, as the Ambassador and Special Representative to SADC.

In addition, both sides shared ideas on how to strengthen cooperation between Thailand and the SADC through development cooperation in areas where Thailand has expertise and SADC has expressed interest, such as food security, agriculture, public health, and the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economy. They also discussed invitations for SADC representatives to participate in the Thailand - Africa Development Forum (TADF), to be hosted by the Ministry from 14 to 19 September 2025 in Thailand.