The retreat follows the AU’s admission as a permanent G20 member and the completion of SA’s 2025 G20 Presidency, with the objective of ensuring Africa remains organised, influential and strategically positioned across all G20 workstreams. Participants include AU Member States, technical financial institutions and strategic partners.

A central focus is aligning African priorities under Agenda 2063 with the incoming G20 agenda, which includes economic growth, deregulation, energy abundance, trade and innovation. The retreat is also expected to assess achievements and lessons from the 2025 cycle, strengthen institutional memory, and build a shared negotiating posture for ministerial, working group and leaders-level engagements.

The programme places emphasis on internal coordination mechanisms to translate Africa’s permanent seat into measurable outcomes. Preparatory discussions target stronger technical defence of African priorities, including infrastructure financing, digital transformation, industrialisation and debt sustainability, alongside continuity planning for AU leadership transitions connected to the G20 cycle.

The retreat also addresses recent diplomatic friction affecting participation in the G20 process. Retreat discussions highlight concerns that exclusions or non-invitations undermine the inclusivity and consensus-based principles traditionally associated with the G20, while reaffirming continued engagement through diplomatic channels to safeguard collective African interests.

Economic sovereignty and reduced structural dependency feature prominently, with renewed calls to strengthen domestic productive capacity, deepen industrialisation, promote fair trade, and advance reforms to the international financial architecture. Delegates are expected to reinforce coordination across the Sherpa and Finance Tracks and intensify collaboration among AU institutions, Member States and knowledge partners.

A key outcome expected from the retreat is the adoption of a Strategic Roadmap setting a clear timeline for Africa’s engagement across G20 tracks, including working groups, ministerial meetings and leaders-level processes, with a view to delivering tangible development gains across the continent during the 2026 cycle and beyond.