Skukuza – Botswana’s Minister of International Relations, Dr Phenyo Butale, is in Skukuza, South Africa, attending the Retreat of SADC Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which runs from 22 to 24 May 2026.
The retreat was called to assess the growing impact of global geopolitical developments on the Southern African region and to strengthen SADC’s long-term response frameworks, including Vision 2050 and the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan for 2020 to 2030.
Ministers gathered at the high-level meeting to identify the economic, political and social factors driving global geopolitical tensions, assess their implications for SADC member states, analyse the sectoral impacts of those tensions and develop integrated response frameworks for the region. 
Five key thematic areas are guiding discussions at the retreat. These are infrastructure, transport, logistics and the free movement of people, goods and services; industrialisation, value chains and trade; energy, oil and gas as well as mineral resources; agriculture, agricultural inputs, supply chains, markets and food security; and financing regional integration, investment, public debt management and domestic revenue mobilisation.
