Danish Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen led a flotilla of bicycles into the embassy's Sanlitun neighborhood for a 3-kilometer ride last weekend, the third year Denmark has celebrated cycling culture in Beijing. Also at the head of the pack: Guy Saint-Jacques, ambassador of Canada; Lars Fredn, ambassador of Sweden; Xu Guangshu, deputy director of Beijing municipality's sports bureau; Ma Zhongchao, president of China Bicycling Association and Zhou Peng, sales director in China for the Danish company Novozymes.

Then came part two: a 23-km ride in the suburban countryside of Yanqing county, home of the cycling competition for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Li Xianzhong, mayor of Yanqing county, welcomed dozens of cycling enthusiasts with a colorful lakeside ceremony before the group pedaled off to the county's wide biking lanes and beautiful landscapes near the Great Wall.

"Bicycling is considered smart, healthy and sustainable in Denmark," Petersen said. "And it has provided a boon to urban planning as well as reducing city pollution."

Li invited all race participants back on June 22-23 for the third Badaling Great Wall Cup Beijing International Cycling Tour Festival in Yanqing.

Argentine Ambassador Gustavo Martino (pictured) hosted the launch of the Representative Office of the Argentine Chinese Chamber of the Production, Industry and Commerce in Beijing at the embassy last week, together with the chairman of the chamber, Carlos P. Spadone, and the chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Wan Jifei. Trade between the two nations reached $14 billion in 2012.

Czech Ambassador Libor Secka and his wife, Sabrina, hosted the exhibition Dew in a Black Coffee by artists Jan Saudek and Liu Zheng at the embassy on Thursday. It was the latest in the Embassy Art series that pairs a Czech and a Chinese artist in a common show. Earlier in the week, Secka hosted the members of the Talich Philharmonia orchestra of Prague for a garden concert at the embassy, followed by a buffet supper.

Embassies from the 52 members of the African Union began a weekend-long celebration of the organization's 50th anniversary with an economic seminar in Beijing on Friday. The keynote speech was made by Seyoum Mesfin, ambassador to China and former foreign minister of Ethiopia, whose country is the current chair of the AU. The Chinese government's special representative for African affairs, Zhong Jianhua, also spoke at the Kempinksi hotel forum, and the dean of Africa's ambassadors, Nolana Ta'ama of Togo, thanked the participants to close the session.

At the invitation of China's Ministry of Commerce, EU Ambassador Markus Ederer delivered keynote speeches at the Central China Expo formally opened by Vice-Premier Wang Yang in Zhengzhou, and at the Mayors Forum for Sustainable Development in Luoyang. On the first anniversary of the signing of the EU-China Partnership on Urbanization, Ederer emphasized the importance of bilateral cooperation to overcome roadblocks toward more sustainable cities. Ederer also headed a trade mission for a series of individual meetings with the leaders of Central China provinces and cities.

Cameroon's Ambassador Martin Mpana and his wife, Bofia Daka Mpana, hosted a national day reception at the embassy last week. The invitation said "National dress/lounge suit/military uniform", and the ambassador stood out in a colorful crowd at his garden party with a richly patterned and embroidered gown and hat.

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

(China Daily 05/26/2013 page5)