Diplomatic Pouch: With Mike Peters
The 5th Yellow River Forum, held in Zhengzhou, the capital of Central China's Henan province, from Sept 24-27, marked the start of the China Europe Water Platform Dialogue.
The 15th EU-China Summit in Brussels emphasized water security as a top priority for cooperation between the EU and China.
The conference was opened by Danish Minister of Environment Ida Auken, EU Ambassador to China Markus Ederer and the Chinese Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei.
About 150 officials, companies and researchers from Europe and China attended three sessions that addressed policy dialogue, research and technology exchange and business cooperation.
Ederer stressed the importance of wise water management in good "neighborhood relations".
"National dependency on water from transnational rivers or aquifers is widespread," he said.
"The EU and China can be inspirational to each other in exploring solutions and jointly assisting the global community in moving toward a more sustainable management of water."
The Confucius Institute is preparing for its sixth Chinese language and culture program for diplomatic staff in Beijing, scheduled to begin after China's October holidays. So far the institute's parent agency, Hanban, has received 130 applications from 38 embassies and international organizations, Chinese language teacher Zhu Dan said at the Confucius Institutes' headquarters in Beijing.
"They will study with us in eight classes of three different levels for 10 consecutive weekends," Zhu said.
Chris Bujink, Dutch vice-minister of economic affairs, agriculture and innovation, joined the Netherlands' new ambassador to China Aart Jacobi on Sept 27 for the opening reception of Dutch Design at Beijing Design Week and the exhibition Dutch Design on the Move.
The Dutch embassy in China reports that a group of the country's elite horses are in China for several weeks. Dutch riders and horses, including the Netherlands' Royal Dutch Sport Horse horses, came home from the London Olympic Games' equestrian contests with 11 medals, five of which were gold.
KWPN horses and the Holland National Horse Foundation participated at the equestrian fair HORFA in Shanghai from Sept 7-9 and will be at the Beijing Horse Fair from Oct 16-18.
Greek Ambassador to China Theodore Georgakelos was on hand as The Olympia Torchbearer was installed recently at Jingyue Sculpture Park in Chang-chun, the capital of Jilin province, in Northeast China. The robust nude athlete bearing the sacred flame lighted by the rays of the sun represents Apollo at Olympia Stadium.
The work of art by Greek sculptor Sakellaris Koutouzis, from the island of Kalymnos, is one of 19 sculptures chosen for display among 1,560 international projects at the Changchun International Sculpture Symposium.
Georgakelos said that a work of art by Koutouzis was also chosen at the symposium last year, titled Praying Monk.
Send embassy and consulate news to michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 09/28/2012 page31)
