Assembly/AU/Dec.473(XX) Page 1 DECISION ON THE REPORT OF THE HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT ORIENTATION COMMITTEE ON THE NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT Doc. Assembly/AU/4(XX) The Assembly, 1. WELCOMES the Report of the Chairperson of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC), H.E. Mr. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal following his election at the Twentieth-Eight Session to a two-year term based on the adopted Rules of Procedure of NEPAD governance structures; 2. ENDORSES the conclusions of the Twenty-Eighth Session of the NEPAD HSGOC; 3. NOTES the optimism and opportunities of a rising Continent to better shape Africa‟s future taking into account the theme of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the OAU and the second decade of NEPAD as the flagship programme of the African Union; 4. ENDORSES the progress and recommendations to take forward NEPAD programmes elaborated in the Activity Report of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) for the period: July to December 2012 presented by the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki; 5. COMMENDS the intensive efforts and focus of NPCA towards achieving better results in its programmatic delivery and REINFORCES the need for direct impact of NEPAD programmes and projects on the livelihoods of African people; 6. NOTES the commemoration of a decade of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) as an opportunity to consolidate achievements and draw lessons to deliver more substantial results and THEREBY COMMENDS the “Sustaining CAADP Momentum” exercise conducted by the AUC and NPCA aimed at strengthening policy, institutions, local leadership and knowledge support with greater emphasis on investments to transform African agriculture, food and nutrition security; 7. WELCOMES the joint initiative of the Government of Egypt and NPCA to develop an integrated programme to address the recurrent food insecurity situation exacerbated by climate change and conflict in the Sahel region by linking food security and global security WHILE NOTING the proposed design of a blueprint for rural transformation under the NEPAD Rural Futures Programme; 8. FURTHER NOTES progress made in the Initiative to Empower Women in Agriculture (EWA) with priory areas of land reform, leadership, access to inputs