The success of the First International Conference on Coastal and Port Engineering in Developing Countries (COPEDEC), held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in March 1983, resulted in the subsequent holding of this special conference series, once every four years, in a developing country. Successful conferences were held in Beijing, China (September 1987), Mombasa, Kenya (September 1991), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (September 1995), Cape Town, South Africa (April 1999), Colombo, Sri Lanka (September 2003), Dubai, UAE (February 2008) and Chennai, India (February 2012).
 During the COPEDEC VI conference in Colombo, in September 2003, a merger agreement between PIANC, the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure, and COPEDEC was signed. As a consequence of the agreement, a new International Organizing Committee (IOC) was formed. The merger of PIANC and COPEDEC resulted in two successful PIANC-COPEDEC conferences in Dubai, UAE (2008) and Chennai, India (2012) and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2016).
 The International Conference on Coastal and Port Engineering in Developing Countries is to be held for the first time in Iran, on its tenth edition (PIANC-COPEDEC X).