- Title: ISRAEL: Top diamond industry executives attend conference
- Date: 15th September 2000
- Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (SEPTEMBER 7, 2000) (REUTERS) SLV MEETING WITH DIAMOND EXECUTIVES AT CONFERENCE SCU DIAMOND INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES AND OFFICIALS; DELEGATES LISTENING; SCU SOUTH AFRICAN DELEGATES BARBARA MASEKELA AND ERNEST BLOM (5 SHOTS)
- Embargoed: 30th September 2000 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Business,Industry
- Reuters ID: LVAEN4ZKG0EC1F1DOXMN7V9MOTT9
- Story Text: Top diamond industry executives, in Israel to attend a
conference hosted by the worlds largest exporter of polished
diamonds, have said that embargoes on so-called blood diamonds
have already begun to have an affect.
As U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan meets with African
heads of state to find solutions to bloody conflicts affecting
the continent, the issue of how to prevent so-called blood
diamonds being used to fund those conflicts has been under
discussion in Tel Aviv.
Israel is home to one of the worlds largest diamond
exchanges and is the worlds largest exporter of cut gems. And
a large percentage of rough gems passing through its cutting
rooms originate in Africa.
The good news, according to an executive from diamond
marketing conglomerate De Beers, is that U.N. embargoes put in
place to prevent diamonds from rebel strongholds in conflict
areas from getting to the market have already begun to impact
on the price of blood diamonds.
Because of the fact that now it is very difficult to get
diamonds onto the market without the official paperwork, those
people who are prepared to take the risk are discounting the
(blood) diamonds by at least thirty percent below the prices
that they used to pay, which is very encouraging. Because
actually as the rebels income reduces, so their ability to
continue their struggle declines, said Andrew Coxon, a
director of the diamond buying arm of De Beers.
Coxon also isolated Liberia as a potential target for
sanctions because, he said, it was not complying with U.N.
embargoes on conflict diamonds. At the moment, Liberia is
not really respecting the rules and the regulations that were
imposed in other countries and its exports are much higher
than its production, he said.
Conflicts in Angola, Sierra Leone and the Congo and other
mineral-rich countries in Africa have been prolonged by the
sales of blood diamonds, and the U.N., in concert with diamond
buying and selling organisatons and government officials, is
trying to bring a more rapid end to conflicts by cutting off
funds generated from the sales of diamonds.
An initiative from some players in the diamond market, to
develop a certification process guaranteeing the conflict-free
origin of each gem, is soon to be a reality, according to World
Diamond Council head, Eli Eizekov.
Diamond marketers like De Beers hope that by guaranteeing
their gems, they will escape the negative publicity
surrounding blood diamonds. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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