Attendees included UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. In remarks to the summit, Guterres praised the AU as “a flagship for multilateralism” at a time of growing global division. Leaders reviewed progress on key continental priorities and launched the bloc’s 2026 theme, focused on water availability and sanitation. The AU’s long-term development blueprint, Agenda 2063, also emphasizes conflict prevention and resolution, with crises in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—particularly in the east—expected to remain high on the agenda.
