PSC/AHG/COMM/2(DXLVII) Page 3 operations and his appeal to Member States to give urgent consideration on how the UN can respond to this initiative, as well as the steps envisaged for the AU and the UN to carry out a joint review and assessment of the various mechanisms currently available to finance and support AU peace operations authorized by the UN Security Council; 8. Reaffirms its commitment to the principle of African ownership and agendasetting of peace initiatives on the continent and, accordingly, reiterates the need for Africa to mobilize greater resources from within the continent, in order to actualize this principle. In this respect, Council underscores the importance of Decisions Assembly/AU/ Dec.561(XXIV) and Assembly/AU/Dec.577(XXV), adopted by the 24th and 25th Ordinary Sessions of the Assembly of the Union, held in January and June 2015, respectively, by which Member States agreed to contribute up to 25% of the cost of AU peace and security efforts, including peace support operations. Council expresses the AU’s determination to ensure that this objective is fully achieved by the year 2020, as part of the AU’s commitment to “Silence the Guns” by that date, within the larger Agenda 2063; 9. Notes with satisfaction the acknowledgement by the international partners of the growing strategic partnership between the AU and the UN in the area of peace and security, based on the principles of comparative advantage, division of labor and burden sharing; 10. Further notes with satisfaction the progress made in addressing the issue of predictable and sustainable financing for AU-led peace support operations authorized by the UN Security Council, as demonstrated by the support package being provided by the UN to the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and underscores the need to build upon this experience and the resulting growing political momentum to find a lasting solution to the challenge of financing AU-led peace support operations; 11. Welcomes the proposed modalities, as outlined in the Report of the Chairperson of the Commission, for the provision of UN assessed contributions to AU-led peace support operations, involving in particular peace enforcement and/or counter-terrorism mandates, most notably the commitment by the AU, in line with the decisions adopted by the Assembly of the Union, to assume responsibility for up to 25% of all AU peace and security activities, including peace support operations, while the other 75% of the cost of such missions would be provided by UN through assessed contributions; 12. Agrees that the operationalization of the proposed arrangement for the financing of AU-led peace support operations undertaken with the consent of the UN Security Council should be predicated on the following: (i) African ownership, as a key factor to the success of peace efforts on the continent; (ii) reaffirmation of the primary role of the UN Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security, and of the role of regional arrangements as elaborated in Chapter VIII of the UN Charter;