1. Ambassador of Belgium Philippe Roland (central picture, below, in the middle) greeted diplomats and friends to his residence to celebrate the King’s day on 15 November

2. Whimsical fantasy is at the heart of Estera Lungu’s paintings, on display at the residence of Ambassador of Canada Marta Moszczenska in an event organised by the Canadian Business Association. President of the association Steven Pepa and ex-boss of the Romanian UN mission Soknan Han-Jung joined the gallery-goers.

3. Air France KLM inaugurated its new office in Bucharest and celebrated 40 years of presence in Romania. Ambassadors, clients and representatives of the business community joined the party.

4. Business leaders and journalists buried their differences and planted over one hundred trees together outside the House of the Free Press (Casa Presei Libere) for the Day of Volunteers. The environmentally-friendly initiative brought together leaders from Raiffeissen Bank, Petrom, Vodafone, Cosmote, the Media Monitoring Agency, Sector One Bucharest and UK Ambassador Robin Barnett.

5. Taking on the role of promoting child protection measures in Romania has not been an easy job for UNICEF chief representative Pierre Poupard, but at least it has been an intensely rewarding experience, as UNICEF goodwill ambassador Andreea Marin (far left) and national icon Margareta Paslaru (far right) bid farewell to the diplomat, who is now posted to Geneva.

6. Turkey celebrated its Republic Day on 29 October in the presence of foreign and Romanian diplomats, politicians and businessmen. Guests included former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and his wife Dana, welcomed by Turkish Ambassador to Romania Ahmet Rifat Okcun and Mrs Gulcan Okcun.

7. ABN AMRO launched its Prefered Banking service, dedicated to clients with high income. The service provides a whole spectrum of benefits and privileges together with personalised investment schemes.

8. While continuing to research and publish in-depth analysis on Romania’s political, business and social scene, the team from The Diplomat – Bucharest celebrated three years on the market at La Cutitu d’Argint, Sinaia, with a promise next year to branch into organising more events and conferences.