A COMMEMORATIVE bronze coin to mark next month’s NATO summit in Newport was unveiled at the Royal Mint today.

It will be given to all of Newport’s primary and secondary schools and every world leader who attends it to mark the role the city and Wales is playing.

Wales Office minister Baroness Randerson and Newport’s deputy mayor Cllr David Atwell pressed two of the coins on one of the mint’s machines as part of a tour with Welsh air, army and sea cadets.

One side of the coin features a map of Wales with NATO Summit Wales 2014 written in Welsh and English alongside it. The other side is decorated with the NATO logo.

And Baroness Randerson said she was excited that the summit was coming to the city on September 4 and September 5.

She said: “This is all part of the impact of NATO and on Wales and Newport in particular.

“The impact of it is that Wales has a key role in this and Newport has a key role in it too. [The coin] will give the leaders something to remember it by.”

She added a meeting of foreign leaders on the scale of the Newport summit has not been held in the country since the European Council met in Cardiff in June 1998.

And Cllr David Atwell said of the coin: “It’s beautiful. I think we are very lucky in Newport that [the summit] is coming to the city.”

After pressing, the coin is sandblasted, toned and sprayed with lacquer at the mint in Llantrisant. The coins are 63mm in diameter and were designed by engraver Jody Clark, who has previously designed coins for Costa Rica, Tanzania, Lesotho and Azerbaijan.

The coin was designed using computer aided techniques and transferred to a 3D model where it was enhanced by hand.

The Royal Mint’s director of commemorative coins, medals and bullion, Shane Bissett, said: “It is our great honour to have the opportunity to mark this year’s NATO Wales 2014 summit in this way and leave the world leaders with a lasting reminder of their visit to Wales.”