The 1st World Chambers Congress was held in Marseille, France, in September 1999, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the oldest chamber in the world, the Marseille-Provence Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Since that first gathering of chambers, the Congress has been held every two years in a different city of the world: Seoul, Quebec City, Durban, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Mexico City and Doha. Each Congress hosts hundreds of chamber leaders from scores of countries. Torino, Italy, is set to host the 9th Congress in June 2015, with chambers lined up to host this event up until 2021.