by eyetee | April 18, 2013 2:27 pm
Two senior ministers from African mining countries are set to address the World Diamond Council (WDC) when it meets in Tel Aviv next month.
Susan Shabangu, minister of mineral resources for South Africa, and Obert Mpofu, Zimbabwe’s minister of mining and mining development, will speak at the plenary. The gathering brings together leaders of the diamond and jewellery industries from around the world, as well as representatives of government and civil society.
“The presence of senior government representatives from the African rough-producing countries is of critical importance,” said WDC president Eli Izhakoff. “Progress in the Kimberley Process (KP) has never come about through confrontation, but rather through engagement and discussion among the producers, the manufacturers, and the consuming countries. It is this type of engagement that we seek to facilitate.”
Shabangu, whose country currently holds the KP’s chairmanship, has worked to end the trade of conflict diamonds.
“The WDC had a significant role in ensuring the statutes and resolutions adopted in Kimberley Process plenaries did not wither on paper, but rather were effectively communicated and implemented by industry,” she said at last year’s WDC annual meeting in Vicenza, Italy.
“It is through this partnership among governments, industry, and civil society, as facilitated by the Kimberley Process, that we are able to proudly proclaim over 99 per cent of all diamonds entering this value chain are legitimate in their origin and conflict free.”
At a conference in Dubai last month, Mpofu reported new discoveries in Zimbabwe may meet up to a quarter of world rough diamond demand by volume.
“Zimbabwe’s present thrust is focused on promoting collective development and progress within the Kimberley Process,” he told attendees of the Dubai Diamond Conference.
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