The press center for Macao's handover activities opened in Macao on December 6. The center offers individual studios as well as public ones. Some 400 desks are available in a public working place, 50 of which provide access to the Internet. The center opens around the clock between December 18 and 20.

"The center is able to meet the demands of various media organizations when they cover the handover ceremony and other activities," said Jorge Rangel, secretary for public administration, education and youth, at a press briefing Monday.

The center is close to places where several major activities are to be held. It is only one block away from the handover ceremony site, about 15 minutes' walk from the place where the founding ceremony of the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) is to be held.

A meeting room in the center with a capacity of some 100 people provides simultaneous interpretation of Mandarin, Cantonese, Portuguese and English.

Audiovisual equipment is also available in the press center.

It is said some 3,500 people from more than 300 news organizations of than 30 countries and regions will cover the handover event in Macao. Xinhua News Agency, the largest news agency in China, has sent a team of 100-plus reporters to Macao. Xinhua will distribute news stories around the world in Chinese, English and other languages.

Macao is scheduled to return to China on December 20, 1999.