Rev. 5 Page 2 b) c) lead to the creation of an African Common Market, through the stages set in the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (Abuja Treaty), with a reviewed and shorter timeframe to be agreed upon in order to accelerate the economic and, where possible, political integration. Undertake an Audit of the AU and its Organs. Establish a Ministerial Committee of Ten on the Union Government. Steps b) and c) have already been undertaken and the reports were subject to consideration by the Executive Council and the Committee of Twelve Heads of State and Government. 3) From the discussions of the Committee of Twelve, and in conformity with the Accra Declaration, it is quite clear that the issue is not whether to put in place a Union Government but how and when and to clarify the concept and content of such a Government. 4) In addressing the issues of how and when, the Committee of Twelve reached the following conclusions: (i) (ii) The form of the Union Government shall be a Union of independent and sovereign States through a gradual process; The accelerators and benchmarks contained in the Report of the High Level Panel on the Audit of the Union are generally acceptable and should be implemented. These accelerators are: • • • • Free movement of persons across borders as contained in both the Abuja Treaty and the Constitutive Act; Development of transcontinental and inter-regional infrastructure; Multinational African firms as accelerators of Africa’s integration; and Early establishment of the continental financial institutions identified in Article 19 of the Constitutive Act (i.e. the African Central Bank, the African Monetary Fund, and the African Investment Bank). The benchmarks include: • • Coherence, effectiveness and efficiency of institutional frameworks; Popularisation and internalisation of the core values underpinning the Act;