1. Guests including UK Ambassador Robin Barnett (bottom right) and select members of the English-speaking community opened the first Britannia Ball at the InterContinental Hotel. The senior diplomat banged down the hammer on a charity auction which raised over 15,000 Euro to help keep the Church of England present in Romania and to maintain the Church of the Resurrection on Strada Xenepol, Bucharest.

2. Transforming her residence into a salon for chamber music, Canadian Ambassador Marta Moszczenska welcomed the St Lawrence String Quartet to play works by Dvorak and contemporary Canadian composer Michael Pepa inspired by the folk rhythms of eastern Europe in an event organised by the Canadian Business Association with support from Canam Steel and law firm Wolf Theiss.

3. Celebrating an anthology of Balkan poets in Romanian, Maia Morgenstern (right) recited verse from local boy Tudor Arghezi to Greek genius Kavafis at the launch of the Romanian translation of ‘Haemus - An Anthology of Balkan Poets’. Poet Mircea Dinescu (left) also worked on the Romanian version.

4. Celebrating Iraqi Armed Forces Day, the Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq and Mrs Adel Murad together with defence attache Major General and Mrs Amir Al-Azawy (bottom right) welcomed diplomatic, business and military dignitaries to the Crowne Plaza.

5. Celebrating its first of two annual Restoration of Independence Days, Lithuania’s diplomatic corps gathered dignitaries and representatives of the country to the Crowne Plaza on 16 February to remember the 1918 re-establishment of nationhood.

6. Ambassador of Kuwait to Romania and Mrs Yaqoub Y Alateeqi invited guests of the local Kuwait community, the diplomatic corps and political class to the JW Marriott Hotel celebrate the 47th Anniversary of the National Day and the 17th Anniversary of the Liberation Day of the State of Kuwait.