On October 17-19, 2011, the IAU delegation, represented by the IAU General Secretary, Dr. Ian Francis Corbett; the Assistant General Secretary, Dr. Thierry Montmerle; and the Executive Assistant, Mrs. Vivien Reuter, visited Beijing and met with the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) members, as part of the continuing preparations of the IAU 28th General Assembly 2012.

In the IAU-LOC meetings, LOC Chair, Prof. Gang Zhao, presented the General Status of the Preparation of the 28th GA, and followed by the working reports made by the LOC representatives to the IAU delegation on conference venue, promotion & publicity, sponsorship, registration & website, tour & banquet, and social events & hotels. Dr. Pedro Russo, Universal Awareness International Project Manager, also presented the proposed a UNAWE workshop for 6 to incl. 12-yr. olds at the GA meetings. During the period, on-site survey visits were scheduled to the China National Convention Center (CNCC) and the Temple of Heaven (a candidate place for a social event). In addition, business talks were conducted with the Tourist Administration of Beijing Dongcheng District and HSBC respectively.

This was the second visit of the IAU delegation, the first of which happened on October 12-18, 2009, for further on-site surveys, advices and decisions regarding the arrangements, logistics and timing for the GA meeting 2012.