NEPAD/HSGIC-03-2003/APRM/Guideline/OSCI 9 March 2003 OBJECTIVES, STANDARDS, CRITERIA AND INDICATORS FOR THE AFRICAN PEER REVIEW MECHANISM (“THE APRM”) 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The African Peer Review Mechanism (“the APRM”) base document (AHG/235 (XXXVIII) Annex 2) defines the Mechanism as: “An instrument voluntarily acceded to by Member States of the African Union as an African self-monitoring mechanism” and its primary purpose as: “To foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration through sharing of experiences and reinforcement of successful and best practice, including identifying deficiencies and assessing the needs of capacity building.” 1.2 To ensure that the primary purpose is realised, the participating states have committed themselves to adopting appropriate laws, policies and standards, as well as building the necessary human and institutional capacity. They have also committed themselves to adopting specific objectives, standards, criteria and indicators for assessing and monitoring progress in key areas on a regular basis in accordance with the African Peer Review Mechanism base document and the Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance (AHG/235 (XXXVIII) Annex 1) [“the Declaration”], as endorsed by the inaugural Summit of the African Union (AU) in Durban, South Africa in July 2002. Page 1 of 31

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