Antwerp diamond industry delegation visits Harare

In the framework of the lifting of the EU sanctions against ZMDC, last week an AWDC delegation and some of the leading, Antwerp based rough diamond trading companies met with Zimbabwean high officials and top representatives of the mining companies.

AWDC’s CEO, Mr Ari Epstein en AWDC President, Mr Stéphane Fischler met with Hon. Walter Chidhakwa, Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Hon. Patrick Chinamasa, Minister of Finance and other Zimbabwean high officials during a networking event in Harare. The networking event was set up to re-engage the ties between Antwerp, the world’s prime diamond trading hub, and Zimbabwe, one of the major African producing countries in the world.

During his speech, Mr. Epstein thanked the European Community: “I would like to thank the European Community, represented here today by HE Ambassador Aldo Dell Ariccia, for their unwavering support of the Kimberley Process. We are firmly convinced that in our industry, the relevance of the KP, especially considering its importance for the African producing countries, remains undisputed.”

Minister Chidhakwa was also very clear during his speech: “We want to ensure that beyond meeting the KPCS requirement, to secure the sector, to ensure that the process by which our diamonds are mined, marketed and logistically moved to other countries has the same level of transparency as those marketed elsewhere in the world,” he said.