Guests converge from around the globe to celebrate event

ABOUT 3,000 guests have converged from around the world to celebrate today's opening of Macau International Airport (MIA) and the dawn of a new era for the enclave as an alternative 'gateway' to China.

A 1,200-strong delegation from Portugal, led by President Mario Soares, arrived aboard the first inter-continental aircraft to land at the airport, a special TAP-Air Portugal flight.

Dignitaries and business leaders from China, Hong Kong and across the region are also being welcomed by Governor Vasco Rocha Vieira to the enclave's biggest official gathering to witness Macau's historic flight into the future.

A decade of planning and four years of construction have gone into the US$1-billion project on an artificial island and reclaimed land off the island of Taipa, which is being hailed as a 'shot-in-the-arm' for the long-neglected enclave.

'Macau has trailed behind its neighbour, Hong Kong, in economic growth over the past century,' said Professor Antonio Diogo Pinto, chairman of the CAM-Macau International Airport Company.

'The moment has arrived now for Macau to catch up and revert its ill-fated destiny.' Professor Pinto said the 400-year-old port, Europe's oldest enclave in the Far East with a population of just 410,000, was now poised 'to become the next dynamic modern city of the 21st century'.