NEPAD/HSGIC-03-2003/APRM/Guideline/OSCI 9 March 2003 increasing access to social services such as education, health, water and energy. High priority areas also include improvement in agriculture and diversification of production and exports, increased trade and investment among the participating countries, increased cooperation in mobilising and attracting both domestic and foreign investment. 1.7 Sharing of information will result in increased adoption of best practices and standards and also accelerate the integration of the economies of participating countries. Higher levels of trust will also increase opportunities for intra-country trade and investment, physical infrastructure, production systems and structures and will also foster common African positions for negotiating with other regions. 1.8 To facilitate the measuring of performance and progress, this document identifies the following components in each of the four substantive areas of the Declaration (democracy and political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development): key objectives, standards, criteria and indicators. 1.9 First, the key objectives that have been prioritised in the NEPAD Framework Document and the Declaration are defined as specifically as possible. Then the codes and standards that are referenced in the Declaration are those agreed to by the African Union (AU) with regard to the area and key objectives of democracy and political governance and those that are internationally recognised with regard to other areas and the key objectives of governance and socioeconomic development. It should also be noted that many of these codes or standards include detailed tools, templates and methodologies for self-assessment of compliance by countries. The APR Forum will review the codes and standards periodically. Page 3 of 31