Beautiful scenery at Bengbu city, East China's Anhui province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

According to Zhou, host city Bengbu is an integral part of the Yangtze River Delta. The Yangtze River Delta, consisting of Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shanghai, covers an area of nearly 300,000 square kilometers and has a population of 220 million.

"The region's GDP reached 19.4 trillion yuan in 2017," Zhou said. "The goal of the national strategy is to integrate the 26 cities in the region to create a charming international megalopolis."

Zhou believed the forum had far-reaching significance for the city to integrate effectively into the Yangtze River Delta, and hoped it would reap growing success in the future.