On the afternoon of Jan 30, 2012, the Chengdu-Sydney Business Forum was held at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. It aimed to promote communication and cooperation in the areas of finance, trade, tourism, and education. Clover Moore, the mayor of Sydney and Mao Zhixiong, head of the Chengdu delegation attended the opening ceremony.

Mayor Moore expressed her best wishes and expectations at the meeting.

Mao Zhixiong introduced Chengdu's development over the past few years. The western development strategy and the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone and the Tianfu New Area have provided huge business opportunities for the development of enterprises.

"We would like to take the opportunity at this business forum to seek for new opportunities and fields to cooperate with Sydney," said Mao.

Moore and Mao, on behalf of Sydney and Chengdu, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing Friendly and Cooperative Relations between Chengdu of the People's Republic of China and Sydney of Australia.

On Jan 29, 2012 local time, a float parade, the most important event of the celebration of Chinese lunar New Year in Sydney, was held on George Street in the city. As the only official partner city for the 2012 celebration events, Chengdu exhibited its unique delicacies, presented special performance and held a photo exhibition of post-earthquake reconstruction in the Sydney town hall.