The Royal Thai Embassy in Canberra, in collaboration with Kasetsart University, organised the Thailand-Australia Genome Editing Innovation Forum: Strengthening Frontier Research Collaboration for Sustainable Agriculture on 22–23 September 2025 at Kasetsart University.

The event brought together Australian biotechnology experts from the Australian National University, University of Queensland, University of Adelaide, and La Trobe University. From Thailand, participants included representatives from government agencies, academia, researchers, and partners including the Department of Agriculture, the National Research Council of Thailand, Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO), Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI), National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), the SynBio Consortium, as well as the Australian Embassy in Bangkok. H.E. Ms. Arjaree Sriratanaban, Ambassador of Thailand to Australia, joined the forum to deliver the opening remarks. Mr. Rapeepat Chandrasrivongs, Director-General, Department of Agriculture, also attended the opening ceremony and gave welcome remarks.

The forum provided an opportunity for Thai and Australian researchers to exchange views on key issues in modern agriculture, including the use of genome editing technologies to enhance crop yields and nutritional value, as well as regulatory frameworks for security and governance. Researchers from both sides also discussed developing a roadmap for future R&D collaboration, and undertook a field visit to Nakhon Pathom to visit the Rice Science Centre at Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus.

This forum reflects the efforts of Thailand and Australia to strengthen collaboration in science and innovation, and underlines the important role of the Royal Thai Embassy in supporting cooperation in agricultural science and technology.

Recently, discussions on genome editing have drawn increasing attention in Thailand. In 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives issued a Notification titled “Certification of Organisms Developed from Genome Editing Technology for Agricultural Use, B.E. 2567 (2024), allowing research outcomes to be further developed for commercial applications.