QUITO – The Government of Ecuador is finalizing the details for the celebration of the Habitat III United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, which is expected to be attended by delegates from 193 countries around the world and will be held in Quito on Oct. 17-20, 2016.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa toured on Tuesday the conference venues, located in central area of the capital, the government information portal El Ciudadano reported.

Some 30,000 attendees are expected to travel to Quito for the conference, Minister of Urban Development and Housing, Maria de los Angeles Duarte, said on Tuesday.

Duarte said that this conference will focus the world’s attention on Ecuador and added that it will touch on areas such as housing, food and construction, among others.

For his part, President Correa recalled that urban policy for the next 20 years will be outlined at the event.

Upon a visit to the venues, Correa said the facilities are ready and the panels’ sites and seats for participating countries have been installed.

According to Correa, the conference will serve as a guide to sustainable development, taking into account that 54.5 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, but only 2 percent of global territory is occupied.

The authorities noted that Habitat III will be held in Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, which during those days will become sovereign territory of the UN, so people who are not accredited cannot enter that premises and other surrounding areas for the Conference.

This conference is held every 20 years. Habitat I was organized in 1976 in Vancouver, Canada, followed by Habitat II, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey in 1996.