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 were: Guy Saint-Jacques, ambassador of Canada; Lars Freden, 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 landscape near the Great Wall.

"China's huge population and economic growth creates an immense daily energy demand," Petersen said, pointing to the experience of Denmark and China's own traditions as a path to green transport and environmental protection. In the Danish capital of Copenhagen, more than a third of the citizens use the bicycle as their primary means of transport. "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."

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

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 towards more sustainable cities. He also urged a fair, open and transparent trade framework so that China can benefit from the best urban solutions designed by European companies. In that spirit, the EU delegation said, Ederer headed a trade mission for a series of individual meetings with the leaders of Central China provinces and cities, during which the opportunities to deepen commercial ties were explored.

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.

The British embassy announced last week that the University of Glasgow and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China will jointly deliver an engineering program. The two institutions will offer a four-year bachelor of engineering (honors) in electronic and electrical engineering delivered at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China's Qingshuihe campus in Chengdu, Sichuan province, with about 200 students starting in September. Graduates will receive degrees from both universities, the embassy said. UESTC is renowned as the birthplace of the national electronics industry in China.

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

(China Daily 05/24/2013 page31)