1.  Four Romanian politicians to have adopted the position of President, Nicolae Vacaroiu, Ion Iliescu, Emil Constantinescu and Traian Basescu all bid farewell to outgoing Chinese Ambassador Xu Jian, a long-standing student and friend of Romania. Assorted dignitaries and celebrities wore red to celebrate the founding of the People’s Republic on 1 October 1949.

2. Danish royalty Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary joined Ambassador of Denmark to Romania Ulrik Helweg-Larsen for a tour of Romania, in which they met with President Basescu and enjoyed the cultural highlights of Sibiu, European Capital of Culture.

3. Novotel City Center is the host of a special painting exhibition by visual artist Miruna Budisteanu. The art exhibition can be admired until mid November.

4. Czech Ambassador to Bucharest Petr Dokladal welcomed a plethora of local diplomats and business leaders to celebrate the National Day of the Czech Republic at his residence in Bucharest, with ex-president Emil Constantinescu joining the slavs for a pilsner and chat.

5. Millennium Bank, the subsidiary of the biggest private banking group in Portugal started opperations in Romania by opening simultaneously 39 branches. The expansion plans include the opening of 100 branches by the end of 2009 and investment of over 300 million Euro. The bank will offer to the City of Bucharest the Millennium Christmas Tree, 76-metre in height, that will be displayed in Piata Unirii starting 1 December.

6. Healthy, spicy, vitamin-packed cuisine and traditional dance greeted guests to the opening of a Thai food festival at the Howard Johnson Grand Plaza Hotel. Ambassador Rushda Thavaravej and Satit Nillwongse, an executive director from the Tourism Authority of Thailand presented the pleasures of the orient.

7. Celebrating his country’s status as the strongest trade partner with Romania, Ambassador Roland Lohkamp feasted Germany’s Reunification day on 3 October with a crowd of seasoned politicians, diplomatic and senior business figures.

8. At 62 years-old, the United Nations may have reached pension age, but it certainly isn’t in retirement. This year the UN has seen Romania switch from a recipient to a donor of UN funds and realise the mid-point of its Millennium Development Goals target against poverty, low education and AIDS. United Nations High Commission for Refugees’ Romanian representative Machiel Salomons greeted guests to the UNESCO HQ.

9. Ambassador Janos Terenyi (left) welcomed his new Austrian counterpart, Martin Eichtinger, to the reception celebrating Hungary’s Republic Day.

10. Wining and dining the Bucharest municipality was on the agenda of Unimpresa – the union of Italian entrepreneurs – at its second annual event, where discussions included investments in city infrastructure, real estate and structural funds

11. Seeking to forge greater linguistic and cultural ties with Romania, Daniel Sotiaux, head of the delegation of Wallonie-Bruxelles in Bucharest greeted diplomatic, political and Francophone guests for a celebration