21 April 2014 – Philippine Ambassador to China Erlinda F. Basilio led the Philippine Embassy personnel, their spouses, and the Filipino community in Beijing in celebrating International Women’s Month in March through a Seminar-Workshop on Entertaining and Protocol. The goal of the seminar-workshop was to provide useful information and insights as well as to share experiences that will help participants become comfortable and confident in official and social functions, whether as host or as guest.

The Embassy invited internationally-trained and highly-experienced practitioners in the hospitality industry in Beijing as resource persons for the workshop. Mr. Béat Müller  is the owner of Swiss Bread Bakery & Café, one of the leading providers of high quality bakery and confectionery products in China, and a long-time member of Chaine des Rotisseurs,  an international gastronomic society founded in France in 1950. Ms. Kat Tran, a graduate of the Swiss hospitality and tourism management school  Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, is the Food and Beverage Service Manager at Sheraton Beijing Dongcheng.  Mr. Müller and Ms. Tran both shared information and practical advice on table setting and service and dining etiquette, and insights on entertaining in a Chinese context.

Ambassador Basilio drew on her more than 40 years of experience as a diplomat who has had numerous postings all over the world to impart advice on official entertaining and diplomatic protocol.

An on-the-spot training on table setting was also part of the program. The participants were treated to Filipino refreshments at the end of the seminar-workshop. END