The Ambassador of Ireland to Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe and Representative to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) His Excellency Mr. Austin Gormley on 4 November 2026 presented his Letters of Credence to the SADC Executive Secretary, His Excellency Mr. Elias M. Magosi.
His Excellency Ambassador Gormley reaffirmed Ireland’s commitment to deepening its partnership with SADC across a range of shared priorities, including peace and security, climate change, higher education, information and communication technology (ICT), gender equality, women’s empowerment, and efforts to combat Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
The Ambassador further emphasized that Ireland remains firmly committed to supporting SADC’s development and regional integration objectives and will continue to be a trusted and valued development partner of the region.
The SADC Executive Secretary congratulated Ambassador Gormley and conveyed gratitude to the Republic of Ireland for its continued and valued partnership with the SADC region. The Executive Secretary noted Ireland's significant contributions through the European Union, multilateral institutions including the World Bank and the African Development Bank, and bilateral cooperation programmes supporting development initiatives in six of the sixteen SADC Member States: Malawi, Mozambique, the United Republic of Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The SADC Executive Secretary highlighted that, guided by the priorities outlined in the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030 and SADC Vision 2050, the region remains focused on promoting peace and security and advancing industrialisation, emphasising value addition, beneficiation, and increased manufacturing through the adoption of technology, innovation and skills development.
The Executive Secretary stressed the need to strengthen partnership between SADC and the Republic of Ireland through a Memorandum of Understanding that will outline areas of cooperation between SADC and the Republic of Ireland.
