Diplomatic Pouch: With Mike Peters

As London began its final preparations to host the Olympic Games, Britons and Chinese joined in a bell-ringing ceremony at the British embassy in Beijing

The ceremony was hosted by the charge d'affaires at the embassy, Chris Wood, and featured guest torchbearer Ge Lei and a group of children from a community center operated by Compassion for Migrant Children.

Ge, who took part in the London 2012 torch relay, led the ringing of the antique bell on the grounds of the embassy. Cast in 1898, the bell was made to celebrate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, and was originally sited at the former British legation.

Children and embassy staff joined in the bell ringing, to support the All the Bells artistic work by Martin Creed, which was simultaneously performed at 08:12 GMT by thousands of people ringing bells of all types across Britain and at British embassies around the world.

The British embassy in Beijing says the series of global business summits taking place at the British business embassy in London will be the largest and most ambitious set of trade and investment events held in Britain.

During the six weeks of the Games, the British business embassy will host 17 global business summits at Lancaster House, following the annual Global Investment Conference on July 26. Each will be targeted at individual sectors or countries.

More than 3,000 government ministers, business leaders and policy-makers from the UK will meet to exchange views and ideas, discuss local and international economic challenges, develop strong global partnerships for future growth and showcase "the best of British business to the world".

The China Business Day on July 27 brought together British and Chinese experts to a global consumer, green technologies and sustainable cities of the future.

Greece's Ambassador to China Theodore Georgakelos last week met students and teachers from the 2nd High School of Thessaloniki and the American Farm School of Thessaloniki. The ambassador discussed relations between Greece and China and cooperation in various fields, especially in education and culture. Georgakelos was given a tour of Beijing Normal University, where the students have been staying, and was briefed on the schedule and activities and their impressions of Beijing.

The Dutch embassy announced that the Benelux Chamber of Commerce, Heineken and the Beijing Sailing Center are organizing the first BenCham Heineken sailing regatta in Qinhuangdao on the weekend of Sept 1 to Sept 2. Organized for people who have never stepped into a boat as well as sailors who have crossed oceans, the regatta is described as "a weekend of fun, learning, team building, competition and winning".

The Swedish embassy announced plans to take part in the 19th International Book Fair beginning on Aug 29. The embassy will collaborate with Swedish publishers to set up a display and discussion area for Swedish literature, where the focus will be on children's literature. The area will be decorated with pictures by the children's books illustrator Eva Eriksson. Swedish authors such as Petter Lidbeck, Ulf Nilsson, Pija Lindenbaum, Martin Widmark and Zac O'Yeah will be attending, as will representatives from the two big publishing houses Bonnier and Raben & Sjogren.

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

(China Daily 08/03/2012 page31)