the two Councils. Accordingly, the two sides expressed their willingness to listen to each other and to jointly continue to innovate and make improvements on these and other vital aspects of the Partnership. They also expressed their willingness to convene more informal meetings with a view to both, strengthening the Partnership and to find solutions to some of those issues, including those that are seemingly perceived to be taboos within the context of the annual joint consultative meetings. In this context, the AUPSC underscored the imperative of the two Councils to opening joint discussion on issues that have remained taboo, including the situation in Western Sahara, which for Africa, is fundamentally an issue of decolonization; illicit financial flows, illegal exploitation of natural resources, illegal and clandestine supply of arms to belligerents and money laundering, which are issues that continue to contribute in fomenting violent conflicts and instability in Africa. Finally, the two Councils emphasized the need to ensure follow-ups on the implementation of commitments that they have entered into in previous annual joint consultative meetings, and to continue doing so for commitments that may be made in future annual joint consultative meetings.