Assembly/AU//Dec.348(XVI) Page 1 DECISION ON THE REPORT OF THE HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT ORIENTATION COMMITTEE (HSGOC) ON THE NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT Doc. Assembly/AU/7(XVI) The Assembly, 1. WELCOMES the Report by the Chairperson of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC), H.E. Meles Zenawi Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia; 2. TAKES NOTE WITH SATISFACTION OF the smooth transition to the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) resulting from NEPAD integration into the African Union structures and processes, following Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.282(XIV adopted by the Fourteenth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in February 2010; 3. WELCOMES the adoption of African Union AU rules and regulations for NPCA Human Resources and Finance systems and the recent setup of the NEPAD Coordination Unit in the Bureau of Chairperson of the Commission to interface between the Commission and NPCA WHILE EMPHASIZING continued collaboration, synergy and programme harmonization between the Commission and NPCA and providing the new Agency with necessary adequate financial resources to enable it function effectively; as well as urgently operationalizing NPCA new organizational structure; 4. ENDORSES the programmatic activities and priorities as contained in the NPCA Activity Report for July-December 2010 and outlook for 2011, ESPECIALLY NOTING the efforts at result-based performance and concrete progress in strategic planning, knowledge management, policy alignment, programme implementation and coordination, partnerships, resource mobilization and communication, including increased Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Compact signing; access to agriculture funding; roll-out of key regional programmes featuring rural futures, capacity development support for Regional Economic Communities; combating tuberculosis; implementation support for National Programmes of Actions (NPoAs) arising from APRM processes; 5. RECALLS Decision Assembly/AU/317(XIV) of the Fifteenth Assembly on promoting regional infrastructure development through political championing based on the AU/NEPAD African Action Plan: 2010-2015 and Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA); NOTES the finalization of the African Action Plan and its launch to implement the infrastructure priority programme as complementary to PIDA and the Presidential Infrastructure Initiative; 6. COMMENDS the work done and progress so far recorded by the High-Level SubCommittee of eight (8) countries on the Presidential Infrastructure Champion