Diplomatic Pouch With Mike Peters

A slew of Romanian wines will finally reach retail stores in China in 2012, the nation's embassy says. "Wine makes the day easier - less stress, more tolerance," says Ion Dicu, Romania's charge d'affaires. Dicu hosted a wine tasting at the embassy for Senator, the latest label from his country to come to Beijing to pitch its wares.

Romania is the sixth largest producer of wines in Europe and the ninth largest worldwide, he says, but the country's wines are virtually unknown in China. Wholesale representatives in the ports of Tianjin and Shenzhen hope to change that - they've stockpiled thousands of bottles of Romanian wine in anticipation of next year's nationwide launch.

Last month's International Poetry Festival in Northwest China's Qinghai province featured poets and other writers from 54 countries. Czech Ambassador Libor Secka presented the Czech poet Petr Borkovec.

"The artists enjoyed the unique opportunity to establish new friendships and discuss the issues of their interest in the breathtaking surroundings of this rough, mostly unexplored, piece of land," the ambassador said.

The main prize, the Golden Tibetan Antelope, was awarded to the Lithuanian poet Tomas Venclova.

Slovakia's Ambassador Frantisek Dlhopolcek hosted a diplomatic reception in Beijing Aug 30 to celebrate the country's National Day and Armed Forces Day.

The 55th anniversary year of the Sin-Czech-Slovak Friendship Farm in Cangzhou city, Hebei province, continued last week, with a big variety show to celebrate at the farm, says spokesman Adams Liu. The events were hosted by the president of farm, Lu Zhenhua.

"The farm became for us, diplomats from the embassy, but also for other official representatives and businessmen from - nowadays, two separate countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia - a kind of a Chinese home. We meet together there, with open arms and minds. We are seeking new opportunities for cooperation. People from the farm regularly visit our two countries and maintain old contacts as well as create new ones." Czech Ambassador Libor Secka said.

Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and China recently celebrated 25 years of cooperation, with the Danish embassy's First Secretary Soren Bindesboll attending the ceremony in Beijing.

NIB operations with China started in 1985, when NIB offered the first loan to the Agricultural Bank of China in a rural project. Since then, more than 300 projects worth an amount of more than $1 billion (692 million euros) have been financed.

Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Sweden founded the NIB in 1976 to promote growth for the region.

Sweden is one of several countries that have reduced the hours for picking up visas, residence and work permits in China this summer.

The embassy in Beijing says the documents must be picked up between 9am and 11am Monday through Friday.

"Due to the big increase of number of visa applications lately," the embassy says on its website, "we will not hand out visas and permits during other opening times.

Embassy news can be sent to mike.peters.cd@gmail.com

China Daily