Assembly/AU/Dec.365(XVII) Page 1 DECISION ON THE SPECIALIZED TECHNICAL COMMITTEES Doc. EX.CL/666(XIX) The Assembly, 1. TAKES NOTE of the Report of the Commission on the Implementation of Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.227(XII) on the Specialized Technical Committees (STCs), adopted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in February 2009; 2. ADOPTS, in principle, the proposed detailed activities of the fourteen (14) STCs as contained in the Report of the Commission; 3. DECIDES that each STC should meet at the level of ministers and experts once every two (2) years, with the exception of the STC on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration, the STC on Gender and Women Empowerment and the STC on Defense and Security which shall meet once a year in ordinary session and an extra Ordinary Session if need be; 4. REQUESTS the Commission in collaboration with the Permanent Representatives‟ Committee (PRC) through its Sub-Committee on Administrative, Budgetary and Financial Matters to determine the financial implications of meetings of each STC; 5. DECIDES that the Coordinating Mechanism of the STCs shall be made up of the Bureaus of the various STCs in order to ensure that the STCs have a global view of the policies, programmes and activities of the African Union; AUTHORISES that it meets once every year and that the Chairpersons of the various STCs attend the sessions of the Executive Council; 6. ALSO DECIDES that the Commission be responsible for convening and servicing all the meetings of the STCs in order to ensure synergy with other Organs and in particular with the Executive Council as well as other institutions; 7. REQUESTS the Commission to operationalize the STCs from January 2013 and that thereafter the Sectoral Ministerial Conferences be abolished.