In his discussions with Mrs Nirmala Seetharaman, Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, the KP Chair expanded on the details of his initiatives he has taken during the last nine months. These include facilitating Venezuela’s return to the KP, securing green zones for Central African Republic to re-export and discussing his Africa Initiatives.
Mr. Bin Sulayem also summarised the outcomes of the two Rough Diamond Valuation Forum, the second held last week in Antwerp, Belgium in association with the AWDC. Talks centered on methodology for a standardized approach to creating a process to price rough diamonds effectively through to deliberating on the challenges the industry faces from synthetics and the upcoming KP Plenary in mid-November in Dubai.
The meeting saw Mr Bin Sulayem commenting on the Indian Commodity Exchange’s decision to allow for futures trading in polished diamonds. He concluded by thanking the Minister for her time and wished them the best in their attempts to gain the leadership in 2019.
India is one of the world's largest diamond and gem polishing and jewellery manufacturing centres, with the gems and jewellery sector playing a significant role in the Indian economy, contributing around 6 to 7 per cent of the country’s GDP. Furthermore, over 80% of the world’s rough diamonds are processed in India, principally in Surat, which employs 450,000 people within the industry.
The Government of India has declared the gems and jewellery sector a focus area for export promotion, and has recently undertaken various measures to promote investments and to upgrade technology and skills to advance ‘Brand India’ in the international market. India exports 95 per cent of the world’s diamonds, according to statistics from the Gems & Jewellery Export promotion Council (GJEPC).