The first meeting of the regional port cooperation joint conference for 14 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China has been held in Ereenhot city in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The meeting was hosted by the port authority of Inner Mongolia and organized by the Ereenhot commerce bureau.

Its aim was to strengthen regional cooperation, boost construction of the "Belt and Road Initiative", and enhance the quality of port development.

During the meeting, representatives from the 14 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities introduced their status regarding port construction and development.

They discussed the establishment of working mechanisms and spheres of cooperation.

In a sign of unity, all attendees signed a memorandum titled "Memorandum of Cooperation in Port Areas".

The memorandum outlined the formation of a port cooperation mechanism, and emphasized the importance of learning and exchanging experiences of building port infrastructure and intelligent, digitalized systems. This includes practices that can reduce charges related to the import and export process as well as the overall customs clearance time.

Furthermore, the memorandum proposes the launch of a cross-regional service platform to support multimodal international logistics. The platform's vision also extends to advocating more cooperation between the China-Europe freight train assembly centers and trading companies.