German Chancellor Angela Merkel concludes her current China trip, her second visit this year, on Sunday in Tianjin. Nine federal departments and 13 Chinese ministries participated in earlier consultations in Beijing at the invitation of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

The new US consul general in Guangzhou, Jennifer Zimdahl Galt, is a career diplomat with counselor rank. Her postings overseas have included Belgrade, Taipei, Mumbai, Beijing, Shanghai and the US mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Hailing from the US state of Colorado, Galt is fluent in Mandarin and French, and also speaks Italian, Spanish and Serbian. She is married to writer Fritz Galt and has a teenage daughter and son.

Afghanistan's Ambassador to China Sultan Ahmad Baheen and his wife, Aziza Baheen, hosted a hotel reception to celebrate the country's 93rd national day. After the buffet dinner and the ambassador's speech, Baheen and Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Fu Ying cut a large cake for the guests as a symbol of the two nations' friendship.

French President Francois Hollande told French diplomats assembled at the Elysee Palace last week for the 20th Ambassadors Conference that China is of major importance and not just economically.

"I want to establish a frank relationship on all subjects including policies, including the most sensitive but also on trade and currency issues," he said.

Ecuador's Ambassador to China Leonardo Arizaga welcomed China's Deputy-Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng and a crowd of guests to a reception marking Ecuador's 203rd national day last month.

That party was followed last week by a series of cultural activities, including an ongoing film festival at Beijing's Cervantes Institute (until Sept 9) opened by Ecuador's Minister of Culture Erika Sylva and the Ecuadorian filmmaker Maria Fernanda Restrepo.

Indian Ambassador S. Jaishankar hosted award-winning Bengali poet Nabaneeta Dev Sen (pictured, right) for a reading at the embassy last week. Writing both in Bengali and English, she is known for her poetry, travelogs, fiction and children's literature - exploring themes of gender, social justice, sexuality, aging and exile. She has translated the works of Chinese poets Lu Ping and Yang Liuhong into Bengali.

The Portuguese embassy in Beijing announced on its website that its The Instituto Camoes (Portuguese Cultural Center) will open Portuguese language courses at elementary and intermediate level in the beginning of September. These courses are open to students, professionals and other people who are interested in learning the language.

China's representative in Houston, Consul General Xu Erwen, met with US Congressman Al Green of Texas at the consulate last week. They were joined by the president of Texas Southern University, John Rudley, who discussed plans to set up Houston's first Confucius Institute at TSU, which just happens to be Green's alma mater.

Rudley said the Confucius Institute at TSU is being established in conjunction with Beijing's Jiaotong University.

The British embassy in Beijing celebrated the upcoming Paralympics by hosting a lantern-lighting event with children from the local NGO China Dolls. The embassy reports that its staff and volunteers joined 15 disabled children and their parents to create lanterns and a large sign to wish Paralympians good luck for the London 2012 games.

Sixty four years ago, when the first disability games were held at Stoke Mandeville in the UK, just 16 ex-servicemen took part. At London 2012, more than 4,000 athletes from 150 nations will be competing across 471 events.

China Dolls was established in 2007 to help Chinese patients with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Brittle Bone Disease).

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

(China Daily 09/02/2012 page5)