The ceremony, attended by Malta Central Bank Governor Michael C Bonello, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Tonio Fenech and  the Chief Executive Officer of  Monnaie De Paris Christophe Beaux were all present as Malta’s very first euro coins came into being.

The French minting company won the contract to produce Malta’s euro coins after a tender was issued by the Central Bank of Malta last October.

Mr Christophe Beaux said he was honoured that the minting company was chosen to create the islands’ coins, adding that Monnaie De Paris will live up to the challenge of keeping up with the established production dates. Parliamentary Secretary Fenech described the moment as “historic”, adding that the initiation of the minting process brings Malta one step closer to integrating in the euro zone.

The three designs that will feature on the eight faces of national Euro coins are the Maltese Cross, the Maltese Coat of Arms and the Mnajdra Temples, following of public consultation which came to an end in 2006.

In separate news, overseas property investors will look to Malta following the announcement that it is set to adopt the euro currency as from the 1st January 2008.

Currency specialist HiFX said that it has already witnessed a doubling in the number of Britons looking into buying property in Malta, as well as Cyrpus which will also adopt the euro on the same day, according to the United Kingdom’s (UK) Hot Property News.

"We predict the property market on both islands to continue to grow due thanks to a number of reasons. British purchasers like the legal system in Cyprus as it is easy to understand-being based on the English one," noted HiFX marketing director Mark Bodega, adding that "Malta boasts far lower taxation than the UK and there are no annual council or property taxes and inheritance tax was abolished in 1992."