On December 9-11 2011, Liu Baochun, Director General of the Guangzhou Foreign Affairs Office led a delegation to attend the UCLG 2011 World Council Meetings in Florence, Italy. More than 500 participants were present.

Thirty-one meetings were held, including the World Council meetings, the Executive Bureau meeting, the meeting of the Presidency and the meeting of the Committee on Statutory Affairs of UCLG. The work plan for the next few years was discussed.

During the meeting, Liu Baochun announced Guangzhou's proposal to set up the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation (Guangzhou Award) and received positive feedback from the participants. The president of UCLG and mayor of Istanbul commented that he considered the Guangzhou Award as the "Nobel Prize of UCLG".