News
San Marino issues stamp to mark CEB’s 65-year anniversary
11 June 2021
PARIS – Sylvie Bollini, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and the Permanent Representative of San Marino to the Council of Europe, announced today the issue of a special stamp to mark the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB)’s 65-year anniversary.
The stamp features a nurse caring for a patient lying in a hospital bed, with a monitor in the background. The nurse and the patient wear face masks, suggestive of the Covid-19 health crisis. Below, in the left corner, the stamp bears the CEB’s 65-year logo to mark the anniversary of the Bank.
The CEB has reacted promptly to the healthcare emergency needs of its member states. A large majority of financing provided by the Bank last year was in favour of increasing hospital capacities and purchasing equipment, medicines, consumables, and, more recently, vaccines. San Marino is one of the beneficiaries; a € 10 million loan was approved in July 2020 to support the Government’s efforts to adequately respond to the pandemic.
Ambassador Sylvie Bollini said: “San Marino joined the Bank in 1989, just a few months after becoming a member of the Council of Europe, demonstrating its confidence - then and now - in this great project. The philatelic issue has multiple meanings. It is a work of art, intended to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the CEB, to whom the Republic of San Marino expresses its gratitude for its useful and prompt intervention in the fight against the pandemic in the member states. The stamp also wishes to acknowledge the Bank’s significant contribution through its activities over the decades and it wants to pay tribute to all health sector personnel for their deep commitment in this emergency situation.”
Rolf Wenzel, the Governor of the CEB, said: “We are honoured by and would like to express our sincere appreciation for San Marino’s initiative. In times of crises, the CEB has always risen to the occasion and made sure that its support to the member states is timely and effective and that the Bank represents, in line with its mandate, a major instrument of solidarity in Europe. This also holds true for the current Covid-19 crisis and the CEB stands ready to actively contribute to Europe’s inclusive and sustainable economic recovery.”
San Marino’s Ufficio Filatelico e Numismatico plans to make the stamp widely available by September 2021. The stamp’s technical features are as follows:
- Values: 1 value of €1.15 in sheets of 12 stamps
- Print run: 30.000 series
- Printing: 4 color offset, Pantone and yellow fluorescent invisible ink
- Stamp size: 48 x 40 mm
- Designer: Mauro Mazzara
- By courtesy of: Council of Europe Development Bank
- Release: expected September 2021 (San Marino Delegated Decree n. 96 –25/05/2021)
***
San Marino was the first state to create a public postal service, in 1607-1608. Its stamps are popular with philatelists around the world. More details (in Italian) can be found here.
Set up in 1956, the CEB (Council of Europe Development Bank) has 42 member states. Twenty-two Central, Eastern and South Eastern European countries, forming the Bank's target countries, are listed among the member states. As a major instrument of the policy of solidarity in Europe, the Bank finances social projects by making available resources raised in conditions reflecting the quality of its rating (Aa1 with Moody's, outlook stable, AAA with Standard & Poor's, outlook stable, AA+ with Fitch Ratings, outlook stable and AAA* with Scope Ratings, outlook stable). It thus grants loans to its member states, and to financial institutions and local authorities in its member states for the financing of projects in the social sector, in accordance with its Articles of Agreement.
*unsolicited