During the first days of September the European Rural Forum brought together in Montpellier (France) all the European Development Agencies working to reduce rural poverty in developing countries. Funded by the European Commission and the governments of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands more than 200 participants took part, primarily policy makers and practitioners from the European Commission, EU Member States and experts from different organizations. About 60 invited resource people from partner governments, multilateral organizations, NGOs and research bodies joined the discussions.

The Forum met the important need to focus attention on policies and approaches for rural poverty reduction in developing countries. Rural areas are taking on greater importance because they are home to three quarters of the world's poor.

The focus was on identifying practical means to improve the effectiveness of rural development cooperation policy and implementation. Particular attention was given to adopting new ways of working in development cooperation including Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), sector wide approaches, budgetary aid, decentralization and civil society participation. The Forum released some recommendations structured according to different lines of action identifying means aimed to strengthen policies and their implementation.

You can visit the Forum web page for further information at: http://www.ruralforum.info.