Diplomatic Pouch: With Mike Peters

London's envoy to China, Sebastian Wood, and his counterpart from Canberra, Frances Adamson, will square off for the coin toss at a cricket match on Oct 21, in which Wood plans to play as well. The occasion is the Australia Chamber of Commerce second annual barbecue for the business community and friends, including a game of cricket between the two embassy teams, which was a tradition in the past but was interrupted until last year.

The family day includes plenty of fun for kids, from face painting to a bouncy castle, as well as food and Down Under's most popular wines and beers at Dulwich College in suburban Beijing.

Frantisek Dlhopolcek, Slovakia's ambassador to China, and Alan Yu, executive vice-president of the China Cultural Academy of Painting and Calligraphy, presented an exhibition by six Chinese artists at the Slovak embassy last week. The artists, Wu Weishan, Li Yi, Chen Xianhgo, Yang Jiansheng, Cui Jin and Sun Kuan, were on display in a special gallery at the ambassador's residence. Dlhopolcek said cooperation with the CCAPC would continue with more shows in the future.

Following the announcement of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that the European Union had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2012, EU Ambassador to China Markus Ederer said: "All of us representing the European Union here in China feel deeply honored.

"This prize recognizes the unique efforts by European countries to overcome war and divisions and to jointly create a continent of peace and prosperity.

"It is a prize for the 500 million citizens of the EU as much as for the EU institutions and member-state governments who have helped to shape this unique political and economic success story. Over the last 60 years, the European Union has unified a region wracked by war and then the Cold War around values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights. These are also the values that the European Union promotes in order to make the world a better place for all."

The embassies of Greece and Cyprus teamed up to organize a film festival ending on Oct 18 in Beijing and dedicated to the work of Greek-Cypriot director Michael Cacoyannis. Hosted by the Central Academy of Drama, the films celebrated both the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Greece and China and the current Cyprus presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Greece's ambassador in Beijing, Theodore Georgakelos, and his counterpart from Cyprus, Ioanna Malliotis, introduced a series of Cacoyannis films including The Trojan Women, Stella, Girl in Black, Electra, Iphigenia, Zorba the Greek and The Cherry Orchard.

Finnish Ambassador to China Lars Backstrom cut the ribbon last week for the official launch of China's first Reima outlet at Charter Department Store in Beijing. Reima is an established Finnish children's wear brand with almost 70 years of history.

The ceremony included a presentation of the line's Autumn / Winter 2012 and Spring /Summer 2013 collections.

Send embassy and consulate news to michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/19/2012 page31)