It was a momentous occasion.

And not only because the National Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Maestro Michael Laus, tenor Joseph Calleja and soprano Miriam Gauci gave the audience at the Mediterranean Conference Centre and the thousands watching at home a tremendous concert that deserved the standing ovation they were given in the end.

The musicians and the singers who took part in the concert held last Saturday as part of celebrations marking the switchover from the Maltese lira to the euro made us all proud to be Maltese.

But the concert was just the icing on the cake of an activity during which foreign dignitaries, including European prime ministers and top bankers, gave Malta full marks for what has been described as an extremely well prepared transition of currency which led to a smooth changeover.

We heard Malta being praised for the “remarkable” and “extraordinary” achievement in meeting the established criteria to join the eurozone “within such a short time”. We heard Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt saying that Malta is a front-runner, not a follower, of the European Union. We heard European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso say that Malta has confidently arrived “in the heart of Europe”.

The detractors and the sceptics will say that these are only words and that they form part of the art of diplomacy. They may be so, but on the other hand Malta would not have been allowed in the eurozone unless it met all the tough requirements that were necessary for it to be given the green light.

It must be acknowledged that we did have a smooth change of currency. It can safely be said that by the time the official celebrations of the changeover were held last Saturday, the conversion was practically complete.

In the two years or so that we prepared for 1 January 2008, the National Euro Changeover Committee left no stone unturned in its information campaign. Retailers and consumers alike had all their questions answered and doubts sorted out – before the transition and afterwards too.

The initiatives taken to make it easier for the people to switchover from the lira to the euro – such as the dual pricing system, the FAIR concept, the agreement not to increase prices until March – were so successful that Malta was asked to help Cyprus, which joined the eurozone this year too, in its changeover plans.

And now Maltese experts will be on their way to Slovakia to help that country make all the necessary preparations for it to hopefully join the eurozone on 1 January 2009. It is the best certificate that the Maltese changeover planners could get.

Now that the eurozone target has been reached, Malta must continue to register the economic progress that it has managed over the past years. No doubt, the euro itself will give this country a big helping hand in maintaining the momentum.

The stability that the euro will give to the Maltese economy was felt the minute that the government decided to pursue its vision of replacing the lira, let alone now that we all have euros in our pockets and bank accounts. For one thing, foreign investment in Malta has been made much easier, and we are already seeing the results.

The euro has helped to create more employment opportunities, and Malta should be no exception in this regard.

Once again, tiny Malta has shown that in spite of its limited resources, it is able to achieve difficult targets it sets itself. It was another occasion when, to use a phrase Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said last Saturday, that Malta was “not afraid to be ambitious”.