Diamond Leaders in Moscow to Mark WFDB Membership of Moscow Bourse

In honor of the Moscow Diamond Bourse’s acceptance into the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) in June, leaders of the international diamond and jewelry industries will gather in Moscow this week for a day-long event on December 14.

Among the industry leaders attending are Ernest Blom, president of the WFDB; Avi Paz, vice president of the WFDB; Gaetano Cavalieri, president of CIBJO, The World Jewellery Confederation; and Eli Izhakoff, chairman of the World Diamond Council.

Established in 2005, the Moscow Diamond Bourse is the first diamond and precious gemstone exchange in Russia that functions along the lines of diamond bourses in other centers. The WFDB General Assembly unanimously accepted its application to become the federation’s 26th member organization at the 32nd World Diamond Congress in Tel Aviv in June 2006.

The proceedings on December 14 will begin with a morning conclave, with members of the Russian government and parliament, and representatives of the diplomatic corps in Moscow. It will be followed by a luncheon, and then by an official visit to the Moscow Diamond Bourse.

The day will close with a gala dinner, at which a number of Russian and international industry leaders will be honored. The event also will mark the 10th anniversary of the Diamond Chamber of Russia, which was established in 1996 as Russia’s first diamond exchange.

On the following day, there will be an open house at the bourse where guests will be able to meet with representatives of the diamond and jewelry trades from across Russia and the CIS. Moscow Diamond Bourse membership, which currently stands at over 40, has more than doubled since the beginning of the year. It includes Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Kazakhstanis.

“We intend that this event be recognized as a milestone in the history of Russia’s jewelry sector,” said Lev Polyakov, president of the Moscow Diamond Bourse. “We were created to serve the jewelry trade at the grass roots level, and to provide a platform from which it can grow and prosper. We see the presence in Moscow of the leadership of our industry as recognition that Russia has arrived—not only as a producer of raw materials, but as an industry and as a consumer market in its own right.”