Assembly/AU/Dec.534(XXIII) Page 1 DECISION ON MARITIME PIRACY Doc. Assembly/AU/18(XXIII)Add.5 The Assembly, 1. TAKES NOTE of and WELCOMES the proposal of the Republic of Togo on the organization of a Regional Conference on Maritime Piracy and other Criminal Acts Committed at Sea and its offer to host the said Conference; 2. RECALLS: i) Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.252(XIII) adopted by the 13th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union held in July 2009 in Sirte, Libya, in which the Assembly expressed its serious concern at the mounting insecurity in maritime spaces in Africa, and welcomed the initiatives undertaken by the Commission to develop a comprehensive and coherent strategy to address the challenges and opportunities linked to the African maritime space; ii) the Communiqué of the 387th meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council held in Addis Ababa on 29 July 2013 at ministerial level, by which the Council endorsed the Solemn Declaration of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) on Maritime Safety and Security in the Gulf of Guinea proclaimed at the Summit held in Yaoundé, Cameroon, from 24 to 25 June 2013, and presented the Blue Ocean Economy as envisaged in the 2050 AIM Strategy as the «new frontline of Africa‟s renaissance»; iii) Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.496(XXII) of the 22nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by which the Assembly adopted the 2050 Africa‟s Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIM Strategy) and its Plan of Action for Operationalization. 3. REITERATES the geo-strategic importance of seas and oceans in the socioeconomic development of Africa, and their role in the Continent‟s sustainable development, as well as the crucial place they occupy in the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the formulation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); 4. ACKNOWLEDGES