UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that rich countries should help the poor ones deal with the challenges of development and climate change by providing the necessary funding and transferring technology.

Developed countries should “be prepared to transfer technologies and necessary funding to help those developing countries,” Ban has said on the eve of a high level UN conference next week on climate. Developed countries should be “more cooperative” in this matter, Ban added.

“We must not leave any vacuum after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012,” he stressed, adding that developed countries and developing countries should take concerted actions before “it is too late.”