KP Plenary Takes Off in New Delhi

The 6th Plenary of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme opened in New Delhi Monday afternoon by Minister of State for Commerce & Industry and Power, Government of India, Jairam Ramesh, in the presence of about 300 delegates.

Speaking at the Plenary, Ramesh called for setting up an arbitration mechanism within the System to deal with cases of human error in the certificates issued by KPCS members. Instead of resorting to draconian measures and putting perfectly legitimate diamonds outside the purview of the legal mainstream, he said, some mechanism should be found to deal with cases of genuine human error.

With reference to demands by NGOs to expand the scope of KP to take in other areas of concern, such as money laundering, Ramesh said that the Kimberley Process was initiated under a mandate of the UN, for the specific purpose of preventing the trade in conflict diamonds with a view to controlling the civil wars in mining countries. To expand the mandate it would be necessary to go back to the UN he felt, and this would be a complicated process.

The minister expressed much concern about the fall in rough diamond prices - anywhere between 35-55 percent in the last month or so. He said this would greatly affect valuation of diamonds and affect the industry adversely.

Ramesh reiterated India’s commitment to a diamond trade free of conflict diamonds and pledged every support to achieve this.