Istanbul to host World Humanitarian Aid Summit

UNITED NATIONS – Anadolu Agency

nited Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (R) greets Abdullah Gul, president of Turkey, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, September 23, 2013. REUTERS Photo

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has just announced Istanbul as the host city of the upcoming World Humanitarian Aid Summit in 2016.

The meetings regarding humanitarian aid often take place parallel to General Assembly meetings, and several countries applied to the U.N. this year, wishing to host it in 2016, according to Anadolu Agency.
Ban Ki-moon thanked Turkey for “the generous offer” as he announced Istanbul as the next stop of the summit, which he defined as “more than an event.”

The summit deals with the work surrounding the coordination of the distribution of humanitarian aid and emergency interventions. The U.N. will be engaged in preparations for the summit throughout the next two years by organizing regional meetings with aid organizations.

Ban also announced a humanitarian aid conference in January focusing on the ongoing conflict in Syria.