Assembly/AU/Dec.400(XVIII) Page 1 DECISION ON AFRICA CONSENSUS STATEMENT TO THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (RIO +20) Doc. Assembly/AU/10(XVIII) The Assembly, 1. RECALLS its “Decision on Africa’s Preparations for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20): Common Positions and Strategies in the Face of the Challenge of Green Economy and International Governance of the “Environment” - Doc. Assembly/AU/381(XVII); 2. TAKES NOTE of the Report presented by Africa’s Spokesperson and Political Coordinator for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20), H.E. Denis Sassou N’guesso, President of the Republic of Congo; 3. RECOGNIZES that the theme of its Eighteenth Ordinary Session - “Boosting IntraAfrican Trade” - is closely linked to the two (2) themes of Rio+20, namely, the “Green Economy in the context of Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication” and “Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development”; and further RECOGNIZES the importance of working to make Rio+20 a success for Africa; 4. REAFFIRMS that the transition to the green and blue economies offer new prospects of speeding up Africa’s progress to sustainable development through economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction; 5. RECOGNIZES the need to strengthen the institutional framework for sustainable development and to promote a balanced integration of the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development, and REITERATES its Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.381(XVII) which acknowledges that current institutional structures do not fully address Africa’s environmental, sustainable development and climate change needs, in the context of consideration of the institutional frameworks of sustainable development; 6. CALLS ON the international community, at Rio+20, to take into account the need to strengthen and consolidate the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and transform it into a specialized international environmental institution to be based in Nairobi, Kenya; 7. APPROVES Africa Consensus Statement to Rio+20 adopted at the Africa Regional Preparatory Conference of the United Nations Conference for Sustainable Development (Rio+20) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 20 to 25 October 2011; COMMENDS the African Ministers and negotiators, the African Union Commission and the Conference of African Ministers of Environment (AMCEN) for the efforts invested in preparing and supporting the African Common Position on Rio+20, and URGES the African Group, including the Permanent Representatives of African countries in New York, to continue to speak with one