Lima, September 19 (Andina-RHC) -- More than 700 government officials from 50 countries are expected to attend the 3rd World Resources Forum (WRF) which will be hosted by Arequipa, in southern Peru, from 19-23 Oct.

The event is intended to be an international platform for the exchange of policies in natural resource management and research on the best use of these resources, according to Peru’s Environment and Irrigation Ministry (Minagri).

“This is a forum which serves as further reflection of what is taking place in the World Economic Forum in Davos," said Mariano Castro, the nation’s Deputy Environmental Management Minister.

Peru was chosen to host this year’s event as it is recognized as one of the 8 mega-diverse countries on earth.

Among the keynote speakers at the global conference will be Bruno Oberle, Director of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment; Jaana Husu-Kallio, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland and Ernst Ulrich Von Weizsäcke, Co-Chair of the UNEP's International Resource Panel and Co-President of the Club of Rome.

The conference is expected to contribute to the debates of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Peru in December 2014.