A man walks pasts a thermal power station in the western Indian city of Nagpur December 7, 2009. [Agencies] |
For his part, Kouchner, standing beside the secretary-general, told reporters that "We are now a bit more optimist getting a political statement at the end of the Copenhagen conference and after, political statement is very important, of course, but the implementation of that political statement is up to the secretary- general and UN system."
"That's why so interesting, considering, the fate of developing countries," he said. "They are hoping after the Copenhagen conference to get some help -- particular help for their development."
During the meeting, Ban and Kouchner also touched upon the situation in Afghanistan, Sudan and Guinea.
On Afghanistan, Ban said, "We are going to have an international conference in London on January 28. I am sure that that will provide an opportunity to help the Afghan government to establish, first of all, a strong good government structure, and also institution building."
"That will be a very good opportunity for strengthening the compact between the international community and Afghanistan," he said.
On Sudan, the secretary-general said, "We are going through a very crucial, important period, next year, starting with elections; also a referendum to be held in 2011. We will have to make progress in deployment of peacekeeping operations and implementations of the comprehensive peace agreement in Sudan."