The two-day meeting, attended by foreign ministers from AU members under the framework of the 39th AU Summit, is being held under the AU's 2026 theme: "Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063."

Signed in December alongside a peace accord aimed at ending the long-running conflict in the eastern DRC, the plan opens access to copper, cobalt, coltan and lithium as Washington seeks to counter Beijing's dominance in critical mineral supply chains.