Addis Ababa, Feb. 17(ENA)--Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the government would undertake various activities aimed at averting food deficit caused by drought once and for all.

During talks with the US Ambassador to the UN food agencies in Rome, Tony Hall, here on Monday, Meles said the government would carry out water harvesting and voluntary resettlement programs with a view to finding a lasting solution to the recurrent drought.

He said the support of the international community was vital in implementing the programs.

The prime minister said relief food is currently being supplied to areas hit by drought.

However, he said, unless relief aid is obtained with out interruption, the problem would be worsening in the future.

Briefing journalists after the talks, Hall and Roger P. Winter, Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), said the US was committed to continue the relief assistance it extends to Ethiopia.

They said the US would also lend its hand to the Ethiopian government in implementing the water harvesting and the voluntary resettlement programs, which they described, as "appropriate".

The officials expressed their country's readiness to further consolidate its cooperation with Ethiopia.

(END)