5 Milliemes FAO - Aswan Dam

Issued as part of the FAO's global coin program, this piece commemorates the Aswan High Dam — completed in 1970 after a politically charged decade of construction that saw Egypt nationalize the Suez Canal in 1956 partly to finance the project after the U.S. and Britain withdrew promised funding. Soviet backing ultimately made the dam possible. The aluminum-magnesium alloy was a deliberate FAO program choice, intended to keep production costs low enough that participating nations could strike large quantities for actual circulation rather than collector distribution.