New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday highly praised US President Barack Obama's commitment to UN programmes, like climate change and ending poverty around the world.

Ban and Obama met earlier this week for the first time since the president was inaugurated in January. Ban said he was encouraged by the talks "both in substance and in spirit."

"That it should come so early is a strong signal of the new administration's commitment to the United Nations and its cause," Ban told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

"Speaking personally, I would like to say that new President Obama is an enormously engaged and visionary leader," he said. "I am confident he will bring to the international arena the same ambition and appetite for bold measures that he is bringing to US affairs. Our discussions were wide-ranging, and we found considerable common ground."

The US is the largest contributor to the United Nations with billions of dollars donated annually to UN programmes worldwide, including costly peacekeeping operations. But it is also the body's largest debtor, with arrears soon to reach 1.6 billion dollars this year.

"My point was simply that the United Nations needs the fullest support of its members, and never more so than in these very demanding times," Ban said.

Ban said he agreed with Obama that 2009 is the year to address climate change. The UN is pushing for an agreement to renew the Kyoto Protocol in December in Copenhagen before that agreement is to expire in 2012.

He said his meetings with some US congressional leaders also focused also on climate change. He said US leadership and support of programmes to fight climate change would help reach a new Kyoto Protocol.

Other topics discussed included the situation in Sudan, the Middle East, Afghanistan and conflicts in Africa, Ban said.

The Dutch government will host a ministerial meeting on Afghanistan on March 31. Ban said the Afghan situation is fast deteriorating.

"Afghanistan is at another crossroads," he said. "This conference offers an opportunity to define a common way forward. I welcome the fresh thinking and focus by the new US administration."

Obama is supporting a US military surge in Afghanistan, shifting US troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. Ban said the military buildup should be accompanied by a political process to end the conflict with the Taliban. dpa