1. Ambassador of the Ukraine, Yuriy Malko, invited guests from the diplomatic corps, political class and the local Ukrainian community to celebrate the independence day on 24 August at the Diplomatic Club.

2. Using centuries of wine-making heritage from missionaries in Chile, a selection of wine from Misiones de Rengo was presented at Chile’s National Day. Ambassador Carlos Parker greeted guests to an event held at Hotel Marshal.

3. About 300 German businessmen gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel to celebrate five years of the German-Romanian Chamber of Commerce and bid a fond farewell to general manager Dirk Rutze. President Karl-Josef Baum raised a glass to the successful and dynamic development of the bilateral relations between the two countries, hailing an increase of 30 per cent in bilateral trade in 2006 over the previous year.

4. Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ahmad M Al-Zughaibi, welcomed guests from the local Arabian community and senior political, diplomatic and business figures to the Crowne Plaza Hotel to celebrate the establishment of the Saudi Kingdom on 23 September 1932.

5. Margaritas on tap and bottles of Corona at the ready, Charge d’affaires Luis Alberto Barrero Stahl and his wife Monika Zauner celebrated the 197th anniversary of the Proclamation of Mexican Independence with a festival of colourful costumes.

6. UK insurance giant Aviva signed up its first subscriber to the private pensions system in Romania on September 17, at 00.01 am in what was probably a debutante on the new market. The Viva pension fund was launched in an informal press conference held at Midnight.

7. Mixing abstract and folklore imagery, painter Lena Vieru Conta’s exhibition ‘Sounds on the Canvass’ opened at the Hilton Art Club in the Athenee Palace Hilton Hotel, until 22 October.

8. Diplomatic and business figures gathered together to celebrate the last days of summer at German law firm Norr Stiefenhofer Lutz’s Sommerparty. Attorney-at-law Jorg Menzer welcomed guests from Hungary, Romania and Germany to the event.