The first World Humanitarian Summit opens in Istanbul on Monday.

The forum will last for two days. The summit is initiated by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with the organizational support of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The summit will involve representatives of 177 countries, including 65 heads of states and governments.

The event kicks off on Monday with the opening speeches of Ban Ki-moon and the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The summit will be attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, the Emir of Kuwait Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of Lebanon Tammam Salam and leaders of other countries.

Non-governmental organizations, international humanitarian institutions, businessmen, representatives of peoples affected by crises were also invited to attend the forum. In total, about 5,200 people will take part in the forum.

In Istanbul, the organization of humanitarian aid will be discussed at the highest level in order to obtain tangible results, said UN Deputy Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen O'Brien. According to him, Istanbul summit venue had not been chosen by chance, since Turkey has the largest number of refugees.