Participants in the 36th World Diamond Congress, which completed work on the day before in Antwerp, Belgium, expressed concern about the situation with the financing of the industry, the transparency of the diamond trade and the practice of mixing synthetic diamonds with natural diamonds.
The congress was attended by representatives of 30 stock exchanges that are members of the World Federation of Diamond Exchanges (WFDB) and 15 members of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA), two associations that organize the World Diamond Congress every two years. They were joined by the World Jewelery Confederation (CIBJO) and the World Diamond Council (WDC).
"At the heart of our discussions were the sustainability and reputation of the diamond industry and trade in general," WFDB President Ernest Blom told reporters.
IDMA president Maxim Shkadov, for his part, said that members of the association he headed and WFDB had a long and intensive discussion on the diamond supply chain. "We talked for a long time about issues such as financing and producer relations with banks and other financial institutions operating in the diamond industry and trade, and we expressed our concern about the significant variety of classification standards used by diamond laboratories and the this has implications for consumer confidence, "said Shkadov," We also talked about the Diamond Industry Development Initiative