ICA to Exhibit at International Jewellery Moscow

Organizers of the International Jewellery Moscow (IJM) will dedicate space to an exclusive, sizable ICA Pavilion that will allow ICA members to exhibit their products during IJM. IJM is to be held May 19 – 22, 2005.

Reed Exhibitions and the Russian company Restee Exhibition Company, organizers of IJM, say the exhibit has the support of Ros Yuvelir Expert, a Russian informational and analytical agency, as well as of the Russian Jewellery Trade Club and the Russian Professional Jewellers Union.

The exhibition will take place at the Atrium of Gostiny Dvor, near the Red Square and the Kremlin. The show already attracts jewelry manufacturers from Europe, Hong Kong, India, Thailand, Australia, the U.S. and of course, Russia.

 “ICA has been looking carefully at new growth markets and has identified Mid and Eastern Europe as one of the promising and potential areas for growth in gem and jewelry sales,” Said Joseph M. Menzie, ICA’s president.

“An ICA pavilion at the Moscow show —set up in a similar fashion as the ICA pavilions already operated in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Korea--will be a great visiting card for the international colored gemstone industry and trade.”

The average output growth in Russia between 1999 and 2003 was 25-30 percent per year. According to Ros Yuvelir Expert and the Russian Assay Committee, some 3,700 companies are processing more than 90 tons of gold each year and currently 164 diamond-cutting companies are registered within Russia.

The Russian consumer market and its potential will also be discussed at the upcoming 2005 ICA Congress, to be held in Bangkok, Thailand Feb 18 to 21, 2005. Two Russian gem and jewelry traders, Flun Gumerov, president of Almaz Holding and Karen Akavian, president of Formica Impex, will speak about the “evolution from socialism to capitalism,” and give an overview of the gem and jewelry market potential and growth in Russia.