This year, the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa will be missing two new states, including Gabon and Niger, which have been suspended from the organization.
Mali, Guinea, Sudan and Burkina Faso will also be absent.
The main items on the AU summit's agenda include:
The continent's security in the context of armed confrontations in Sudan, Somalia, Libya, the Great Lakes region and the Sahel;
The development of the AfCFTA, a free trade area established by AU members that covers the entire African continent (except Eritrea). This makes it the largest free trade area in the world after the WTO in terms of membership;
The implementation of the Union's Agenda 2063 goals over the next 10 years;
Reforms of African financial institutions and the global financial architecture;
Energy transition and financing the fight against climate change.