The Croatian edition of the coin, presented in Zagreb today, is made of silver in a KN150 denomination, while the Irish edition, launched simultaneously in Dublin, is of a EUR15 denomination.
HNB Governor Zeljko Rohatinski said that this was one of the rare examples of commemorative coins issued jointly by the central banks of two or more countries and the first such case in Croatia.
Rohatinski pointed to the symbolic of the joint commemorative money issue of an EU member country and a country aspiring to become one. Croatia's integration with the EU means not only adopting EU standards, adjusting legislation and consolidating institutions, but enabling the economy to cooperate and make money, rather than borrow it, he said.
A member of the Council of the Central Bank of Ireland and honorary consul to Croatia, Gerry Danaher, said that the coins would be a lasting symbol of constantly growing links between the two countries, which was reflected in Ireland's enthusiastic support for Croatia's EU membership.
Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec said that Ireland had always been a model to Croatia in terms of how to organise the economy, use foreign investments, achieve market openness, educate workforce, reform public administration, etc.
Mestrovic made his work "Girl with the Harp" in 1927 at the proposal of Irish poet William Butler Yeats as a model for the first coins of the Free Republic of Ireland.
The author of the back side of the coin is Croatian sculptor Damir Matausic and the coins were made at the Croatian Mint.