by Krystal Paco

Guam - Close to 75 port officials and experts from all over the Pacific Islands, North America and Asia gathered today at The Marriott Resort for the 99th Annual Association of Pacific Ports Conference. According to APP executive director Dave Hunt, the conference allows officials to discuss the commonalities between ports along with the challenges many are facing today.

"So the opportunities here is to share best practices, to share successes and failures so ports can be able to learn from other; as they're facing port security challenges, or they're facing infrastructure challenges or they're facing shipping challenges and to be able to share those best practices and learn from each other and be able to strengthen everyone together," he said.

The Port Authorities of Guam and the Marshall Islands are hosting the event which was last held on island nearly 20 years ago. The conference continues through Saturday.