The South African Reserve Bank Governor, Mr Tito Mboweni, today launched a coin series commemorating the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) which is being hosted by the City of Johannesburg from the 26th August to 4th September 2002. The SA Mint, a wholly owned subsidiary of the SA Reserve Bank, has produced a series of four coins to acknowledge the significance of the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit. This is second ever summit to be convened by the United Nations focusing on sustainable development. The first summit was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, more than a decade ago.Mr Mboweni launched a R1 circulation coin, as well as a gold and silver commemorative coin as part of the 2002 Protea series. On the reverse of the R1 circulation coin, the traditional springbok has been replaced by an image of the planet earth with the African continent clearly visible and the words “Johannesburg World Summit” around the globe. Only 1 million of these circulation coins will be distributed by the commercial banks. The 2002 collector’s Protea series coins consists of 1oz R25 and 1/10oz R5 gold coins as well as a R1 silver coin. All three coins depict the King Protea, South Africa’s national flower on the obverse side of the coin. The Summit will bring together tens of thousands of participants, including heads of state and government, national delegates and leaders from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), businesses and other major groups. The aim of the Summit is to direct action towards meeting challenges such as poverty alleviation and conserving our natural resources, with ever-increasing demands for food, water, shelter, sanitation, energy, health services and economic security.