CONSIDERING Articles 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community,

CONSIDERING the Protocol on the Relationships between the African Economic Community and the Regional Economic Communities,

HAVING CONSIDERED the report of the last OAU Council of Ministers,

Are approved Regulation CM/OAU/AEC/Regl.(x) of the AEC Council of Ministers and Regulation EC/AU/AEC/Regl.(I) of the Executive Council,

Member States are requested to take the necessary steps to ratify the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community and to accede to it as quickly as possible, if they have not yet done;

a) The need for effective preparation for the Second Africa-Europe Summit, in view of the limited progress in the implementation of the Cairo Plan of Action adopted by the First Summit is recognized;

b) The OAU Follow-up Committee and the OAU Core Group are requested to ensure that the fifth meeting of the Africa-Europe Bi-Regional Group take place during the second half of September 2002;

c) The OAU Follow-up Committee is further requested to ensure that all aspects of the preparatory arrangements for the second Africa-Europe Ministerial Conference in Ouagadougou, due in November 2002, are fully coordinated with the Government of Burkina Faso, the host country and in cooperation with all the RECs, ECA and ADB;

d) Appeal is made to all Member States to participate in the Second Ministerial Conference and to all EU Member States to honour their commitments under the Cairo Plan of Action and to cooperate with the African side, so as to ensure that the Conference adopts concrete measures and actions for implementation of the Cairo Plan of Action, and for identification of specific issues to be addressed by the Second Africa-Europe Summit in 2003;

e) All African Union and European Union Member States are urged to be represented at the Ouagadougou Conference by Ministers;

f) Is approved the offer by Portugal to host the Second Africa-Europe Summit in Lisbon from 4 to 5 April 2003;

g) The Chairperson of the Commission in cooperation with the RECs, is requested to take all the necessary measures to provide technical support for all the preparatory arrangements, as well as to the 5^th Meeting of the Bi-regional Group, the Ouagadougou Ministerial Conference and the Second Africa-Europe Summit.