Rev. 5 Page 3 • • • • Engagement and mobilization of the peoples of Africa for the unity and integration project; Rationalisation of the RECs; Fast tracking of the move towards an African Common Market and the African Economic Community; Acceleration of steps towards the establishment of continental financial and monetary institutions. (iii) Member States should honour their commitment to integration by faithfully implementing decisions at national, regional and continental levels; (iv) Member States should incorporate at national levels the decisions taken at the RECs levels and those of the AU Assembly into their national legal systems, policy frameworks, and development plans; (v) The Assembly should annually review the progress of harmonisation in line with agreed plans, and the Chairperson of the Assembly should submit the report of the Assembly to each of the Assemblies of the RECs; the RECs should submit their reports to the Chairperson of the AUC who should take them into account in his report to the Assembly. The decisions taken by the Assembly regarding the RECs should be transmitted to the latter by the Chairperson of the Commission; (vi) It should be made mandatory for the Coordinating Committee to present annual reports to the Assembly of the AU on the activities of the RECs in relation to the economic integration of the continent; (vii) There is a need to encourage RECs, which are the building blocks of the Union, to achieve regional integration on the basis of variable geometry. For example, RECs could be required to achieve Customs’ Unions within specified and agreed timeframes; (viii) There is a need for the RECs to be rationalized and given a timetable for harmonizing their activities. In this regard, the Protocol on Relations between the AU and RECs should be implemented; (ix) While embarking on the processes indicated above, there are issues of common strategic importance which could be handled at the continental level, on the basis of the principle of subsidiarity, such as the areas of competence identified in Paragraph 14 of the Report of the Ministerial Committee of Ten on the Union Government, namely: • continent-wide poverty reduction strategies;