President of the World Diamond Council (WDC) Edward Asscher said at the WDC conference in New Delhi, India, that unity is key to the future growth of the global diamond industry.
“The mandate of the World Diamond Council is to do everything to promote, support and defend the Kimberly Process and to represent the industry in negotiations with the governments,” Asscher said. “Today the WDC also is looking at all the challenges surrounding the KP and to assess the risks around it,” he continued.
According to him, WDC is active in KP and the incidence of conflict diamonds in the pipeline has been reducing. He emphasized that WDC is also focusing on educating KP member nations and organizations “to get more knowledge and coordinate the working methods and procedures, so that exporting and all importing countries use the same methods”.
Prior to the WDC conference an informal meeting was held in the city. The heads of the various industry bodies had reiterated their support for WDC and its mission, Asscher said.
As in any other family, he said, the diamond family sometimes has different opinions, but ultimately they are superseded by a common cause. “The WDC is a unique organization, for it requires that the most important leaders of the diamond industry must work closely together. After some public discussions it is my pleasure to confirm today that all organisations are now aligned in the interest of the total diamond industry,” he added.
“The sum of our united organisations is in this way much greater than the sum of its parts,” he said. “And that is for the good of our industry. When you get to my age, one does not think of the next quarter or the next year – one thinks of the interests of the next generations.”
← Back