Assembly/AU/Dec.488(XXI) Page 1 DECISION ON THE REPORT OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT ORIENTATION COMMITTEE (HSGOC) ON NEPAD Doc. Assembly/AU/7(XXI) The Assembly, 1. NOTES WITH APPRECIATION the Report by the Chairperson of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC), H.E. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal; 2. ENDORSES the conclusions of the Twenty-Ninth Session of the NEPAD HSGOC; 3. RE-AFFIRMS the continued relevance and role of NEPAD as the African Union flagship development strategy and programme and its continued contributions to advancing continental transformation in the spirit of championing Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance as Africa celebrates the 50th OAU-AU anniversary; 4. RECALLS the Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.413(XVI1I) based on the conclusions of 26th HSGOC Session on Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) for NEPAD programmes and projects regarding the conduct of a comprehensive study on innovative mechanisms and instruments, towards energizing African ownership of the continent‟s development agenda and programmes; 5. WELCOMES the offer of the Republic of Senegal to convene a High-Level Summit and Business Conference on Financing NEPAD programmes and projects in Senegal at a later date, to taking forward to the domestic resource mobilization agenda with a view for focused discussion at the High Level Conference; 6. TO THIS EFFECT, REQUESTS the NPCA and UNECA to finalize the findings and conclusions of the study report on “Mobilizing Domestic Financial Resources for implementing NEPAD National and Regional Programmes - Africa Looks Within” in collaboration with UNDP and African Development Bank, after due consideration by the NEPAD Steering Committee; 7. APPRECIATES the launching of the Virtual PIDA Information Centre (VPic) by the HSGOC as a centralized platform to consolidate information and statistical data on regional infrastructure projects in the context of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI); 8. COMMENDS the NPCA and AUC for this critical milestone to improve communication on PIDA Priority Action Projects (PAP) and PICI by targeting African countries, policy makers, investors and the RECs. EMPHASIZES that VPic will support the PIDA Africa Infrastructure Database (AID) and advance monitoring and evaluation of infrastructure project implementation;