In 2008, the Southeast Asian Weightlifting Federation (SEAWF) has been established and its important purposes are discussion and preparation for 2009 SEA Games in Lao. As discussion, the members agreed that the President should be the next host country of SEA Games, so the first SEAWF President is Dr. Thansamay Kommasith, President of Lao Weightlifting Federation. In present, the process has been changed to election, thus; Dr.Niwat Limsuknirun, AWF Executive Board Member and TAWA Vice President, became the SEAWF President according to the election on 17th November 2024 at Bangkok, Thailand.
The SEAWF is the regional weightlifting federation which aim to promote and develop weightlifting sport in Southeast Asian Region. This is to encourage athletes, coaches and officials of members, to have more experiences and good performances in the international competition. Moreover, it supervised the organization of weightlifting sport in SEA Games which is the important games of region; holding every 2 years. It consisted of 11 members and the headquarter located in Bangkok, Thailand.