Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has urged the international community and African governments to back rural development for the continent. Speaking at the launch of the UN Development Programme’s 2003 Human Development Report in Addis Ababa on Monday, he said rural and agricultural development was the “quickest and most reliable” way to reduce poverty. Meanwhile, Patrick Asea, chief economist at the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa, told the meeting that cooperation between rich and poor nations was a litany of broken promises.