Articles and News

Kinshasa, DRC—Despite optimistic predictions, once again the question of lifting the ban on diamond exports from the troubled Marange region of Zimbabwe ended in a stalemate at the recent Kimberley Process intersessional meeting held last week in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In what is fast becoming a reflection of the global diamond and jewelry economy, the division fell largely along east/west lines, with Asian, African, and Middle Eastern nations voting in favor of lifting the ban, and Europeans, Israelis, and North Americans opposed, saying all conditions have not yet been met. NGOs Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada both walked out of the meeting, posting a vote of “no confidence” online, while Zimbabwean officials argued that conditions have been met and that their nation is being held to a higher standard than other KP participants. Jewelers of America continues to recommend its members do not trade in Marange diamonds, as posted on its website earlier this year. For more details, read additional reports in National Jeweler, Rapaport Tradewire, and Rob Bates’ blog posts of June 23 and June 29 in JCKOnline.

Ramat Gan, Israel—Jovella, the 8^th International Jewelry and Diamond Exhibition set for July 5-6 in Tel Aviv, announces the first Israeli Diamond Pavilion, sponsored by the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies (IDI). The specially designed pavilion will include 11 Israeli diamond companies exhibiting loose diamonds in standard and special cuts, and high-end finished diamond jewelry. Jovella 2011 also features gold and gem-set jewelry, sterling silver jewelry and fashion jewelry. To register, log onto http://www.jovella.co.il

Mumbai, India—India and Russia, both key players in the global diamond market, held the first Indo-Russian diamond summit here last week. In the first of what they hope will become many future meetings, the purpose of the event was to increase cooperation between the two countries’ diamond and jewelry industries. The event was organized by India’s Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), the Moscow Diamond Bourse, and Russian-language trade publication Navigator for Jewellery. For more, see this article in National Jeweler.