Quito, October 15 (RHC)-- Ecuador will welcome 11 presidents who will participate in the Habitat III - United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, taking place in Quito beginning Monday, October 17. The event will run through next Thursday, the 20th this according to Cesar Navas, Ecuador's Minister of Security,

During a news conference in Quito, Navas confirmed the presence of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, Chile's Michelle Bachelet, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos and Costa Rica's Luis Guillermo Solis.  Senior dignitaries will also include UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Navas added that 45,000 people have registered to participate in the meeting, which will be held at the Ecuadorian House of Culture in Quito.  The Habitat meetings happen once every 20 years, with the first having taken place in Vancouver, Canada in 1976 and the second in Istanbul, Turkey in 1996.

The UN General Assembly elected Quito to host the third meeting in December 2014.  The timeline between these landmark conferences is to follow, analyse, define and plan concrete actions for the development of urban centers around the world.