The signing ceremony was attended by IPC President Sir Philip Craven, who was accompanied by Lady Craven, IPC chief operating officer Georg Schlachtenberger and Stephanie Keller, head of protocol and hospitality.

Also in attendance were the Vice Mayor Beijing and executive vice president of BODA Liu Jing Min, the President of the National Paralympic Committee of China, Wang Xinxian and vice president of BODA Jiang Xiaoyu.

Sir Philipsaid: "We are delighted that the General Assembly 2011 will be hosted by the city of Beijing, which staged the best Paralympic Games ever in 2008.

"The IPC team is looking forward to closely working together with the people from BODA to organise a fantastic General Assembly."

The General Assembly is the supreme authority of the IPC which meets every two years and the decision to take the event to Beijing follows a detailed review of the bids received and a site visit to each bidding city.

The General Assembly will take place on December 10 and 11 2011 and prior to that the IPC Conference, which is open to all General Assembly delegates, will take place on December 8 an d9.

More than 300 attendees are expected at the event and all National Paralympic Committees, Paralympic Sports, regional organisations, international organisations of sport for the disabled and friends will be invited to attend.

At the meeting the General Assembly will consider a number of items including policy for the generation of far more Paralympic athletes worldwide and the IPC budget.