I. Introduction to Brisbane

Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland, covers an area of 2,280 square kilometers. It has a population of about 2.04 million, ranking third in Australia. As the largest seaport in the country, Brisbane is the main business center and a traffic hub in southeast Australia, one of the main transportation junctions connecting Australia to the Asia-Pacific region, and one of the main ports for the export of Australia's natural resources as well as products of agriculture and animal husbandry. Brisbane mainly features the service sector, education, and training, transportation, real estate, etc.

Located by Brisbane River and adjacent to Moreton Bay, the city is 25 kilometers from the estuary. With an average of 7.5 hours of sunshine per day, the city is known as the "City in the Sun". Brisbane hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games, the World Expo 88, and the 2001 Goodwill Games, as well as the G20 Summit in November 2014.

The Brisbane Technology Quadrangle Area is on par with the world's high-end technology research and development areas such as the American Triangular Belt and Sophia Antipolis in France. Its core lies in Queensland's cutting-edge research and development facilities, mainly including a mineral research center, an information technology center, a plant biotechnology center, and a drug design and development center.

Chongqing formed sister city relations with Brisbane in October 2005. In September 2010, Brisbane won the "Award for Exchange and Cooperation of Friendly City with China" issued by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

Brisbane Sign, photo provided to iChongqing

II. Introduction to Chongqing-Brisbane Exchanges

1. Important Mutual Visits

In October 2005, Campbell Newman, then Lord Mayor of Brisbane, visited Chongqing for the 5th Asia Pacific Cities Summit and signed with Wang Hongju, then-Mayor of Chongqing, the Agreement on the Brisbane-Chongqing Sister City Agreement. In September 2013, Graham Quirk, then Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Australia, led a delegation of more than 40 people to Chongqing. Chen Heping, the Deputy Mayor of Chongqing, met with the delegation. More than 150 government and enterprise representatives from China and Australia attended the Brisbane City Business Investment Forum and had one-on-one business matchmaking negotiations. Chongqing Education Commission signed a memorandum of cooperation with the municipal government of Brisbane. In July 2015, Zhang Xuan, Director of the Chongqing Municipal People's Congress, led a delegation to Brisbane and attended the 10th Asia Pacific Cities Summit on behalf of Chongqing. She renewed the agreement on sister-city relations between the two cities with Graham Quirk, then Lord Mayor of Brisbane, specifying the areas of exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in the next five years and further improving the mechanism of interaction between the two cities. In April 2017, a 6-member delegation led by Liu Qiang, Deputy Mayor of Chongqing, went to Brisbane, where they met with Councillor Krista Adams of Brisbane City Council and paid a visit to Stanbrock, a company cooperating with Chongqing Hondo Agriculture Group in the export business of fresh and frozen beef. In September 2017, Graham Quirk, then Lord Mayor of Brisbane, led a delegation to visit Chongqing, where they met with Tan Jialing, then Deputy Mayor of Chongqing.  In July 2019, Tan Jialing, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Chongqing Municipal Committee, led a delegation to visit Brisbane, where they attended the 2019 Asia Pacific Cities Summit and Mayors' Forum.  In August 2019, Krista Adams, Deputy Mayor of Brisbane, led a delegation to visit Chongqing, where they attended the second Smart China Expo.  and signed the Agreement on Further Deepening the Sister City Relations between Chongqing and Brisbane, Australia.

South Bank of Brisbane

2. Cooperation

Chongqing has carried out practical cooperation with Brisbane and Queensland in education, economy, trade, etc.  In the field of education, in August 2017, Chongqing Municipal Education Commission, Chongqing International Cooperation Alliance for Higher Vocational Education, Trade and Investment Queensland, TAFE Queensland, as well as Australia Council for Private Education and Training signed a memorandum of cooperation to establish China-Australia (Chongqing-Queensland) Vocational Education Alliance and set up its office in Chongqing.

City of Brisbane, photo provided to iChongqing