Assembly/AU/Dec.259(XIII) Page 1 DECISION ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AFRICAN AGENCY FOR THE PROTECTION OF TERRITORIAL AND ECONOMIC WATERS OF AFRICAN COUNTRIES Doc. Assembly/AU/15(XIII) Add.4 The Assembly, 1. EXPRESSES its appreciation for the proposal by the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on the establishment of an African Agency to protect regional waters and the economies of African countries; 2. UNDERSCORES the need for Africa to have an effective instrument to help countries of the continent to protect its own regional waters and economies and to put an end to the illegal exploitation of the resources and organizing the process of its exploitation for the interest of its own inhabitants; 3. DECIDES to include the functions of the African Agency to protect regional waters and the economies of African countries into the functions of the African Union Authority. Adopted by the Thirteenth Ordinary Session of the Assembly in Sirte, Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on 3 July 2009