Children’s coin initiative − from children in solidarity

The Governor of the Central Bank of Malta Mario Vella presented the Solidarity through love Commemorative €2 coin to President MarieLouise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta. This is the first coin from the From children in solidarity programme that was launched in June 2015.

The Governor said that the Central Bank of Malta is pleased to be associated with the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation. “The maintenance of price stability and the execution of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy are the objectives of the Central Bank of Malta. The proper execution of these functions ensures that Malta’s economic growth and living standards are safeguarded. Therefore, we can say that the Central Bank’s statutory responsability has an important social function. But the Central Bank also has an important social role which goes beyond these statutory obligations. This coin design initiative helps educate and induce in our students a sense of ownership, commitment and wanting to give back to the community. Solidarity is an obligation and not charity.”

The Governor also explained that the Solidarity through love coin is the first coin from a programme of five coins. The profit made from the sale of the coin cards will be donated to the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation. He also announced that the themes for the 2017 and 2018 coin design competitions are Peace and National Heritage, respectively.

Dr Vella ended by thanking Her Excellency for her restless endeavour to promote and support the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation and for believing in and supporting this initiative wholeheartedly.

The President thanked the Governor and the staff of the Central Bank of Malta for coming up with such an initiative. President Coleiro Preca said that this initiative had a two-fold objective. The primary objective was that of solidarity, while the other objective focused on promoting active participation by all the students, as well as being a celebration of the democratic values, which was expressed through the voting process by which the winning design was chosen.

Her Excellency congratulated all the students who took part as well as the designer of the winning design, Sarah Louise Cilia. The President said that the active participation of the students is a statement of just how much the students want to be activists of solidarity, from such a young age adding that “if, from a young age, our children are activists of solidarity, this would mean that, when they are the leaders of the future, they will ensure that no one is left out”.

President Coleiro Preca also thanked the Student Services Department within the Ministry of Education and Employment, the heads of schools, the students and Matilde Cordina, from the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation for their help and support to make this initiative a success.

The Solidarity through love commemorative €2 coin will be on sale from tomorrow, 5 December. The coins will be issued in circulation quality rolls of 25 coins each and in individual coin cards, of which, only 30,000 will be available. The cost of a roll of 25 coins is €70, whereas a coin card costs €7. The rolls and/or coin cards may be purchased directly online from the bank’s e-shop www.centralbankmalta.org.

The Malta Coins Distribution Centre can be contacted by phoning on (+356) 2550 6006/7; email: mcdc@centralbankmalta.org