The second day of this year’s 11th Gold and Diamond Conference, organized by Initiatives in Art and Culture, held July 12, 2021, featured a panel discussion entitled “Mining: Responsible Sourcing and Best Practice.” Among the panelists was Feriel Zerouki, Vice President of the World Diamond Council.
WDC President looks at regional initiatives to enhance the implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in artisanal and small-scale mining areas in central and west Africa. He was speaking during CIBJO’s Jewellery Industry Voices seminar at the VOICE Vicenzaoro trade event in Vicenza, Italy, on September 12, 2020.
Edward Asscher, President of the World Diamond Council, has expressed the WDC’s strong support for an agreement announced today by the De Beers Group’s GemFair initiative, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Mano River Union (MRU), according to which the three bodies will collaborate in the development and delivery of a regional training program that promotes safe and responsible operating standards in the artisanal and small-scale mining sectors (ASM) in the MRU member countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Ivory Coast.
The MRU workshop in Freetown had an ambitious agenda. It involved representatives of the four countries, with the help of industry and civil society, drawing up national and regional plans to implement the KPCS, combat the smuggling of minerals and enhancing the development and livelihood aspects of artisanal mining.
Although they produce only 5 percent of rough diamonds by volume, there are 1 million individuals involved artisanal diamond mining and at least 5 million others who are dependent on the revenues they provide.
Elodie Daguzan, Executive Director of the World Diamond Council (WDC), has expressed the WDC’s strong endorsement for the regional approach by the Mano River Union (MRU) to reinforce the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPSC), declaring that it will assist artisanal diamond miners gain better access to the legitimate diamond supply chain, while receiving fair value for their work.
Diamond-producing countries on the African continent received about $8.1 billion, or 9.5 percent of the $85.9 billion worth of revenues generated by diamond jewelry in 2018, and some still may consider that an insufficient share, said World Diamond Council (WDC) President Stephane Fischler, speaking at the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, on October 23, 2019.
Next week, on October 2 and 3, representatives of the members of our organization, which are associations and companies from across the diamond and jewelry industries, will gather in Antwerp for the Annual General Meeting of the World Diamond Council (WDC). It is being hosted by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC).
Elsewhere as well, and sometimes closer to home, WDC members are reinvesting in the communities in which they operate and upon which they depend.
He was speaking during the Opening Session of the 2019 Intersessional Meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP), which opened today in the Indian city of Mumbai.
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