AWDC to Hold Second African Diamond Conference
February 06, 20
(IDEX Online) - The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) has announced plans to hold its second African Diamond Conference (ADC). The conference will take place in Durban, South Africa on May 5-6. The last ADC took place in Brussels in 2017. The AWDC website describes the event as a high-level gathering for African mining ministers, the diplomatic corps, global diamond industry, civil society and academia to discuss the challenges and opportunities for African diamond-producing countries now and in the future. Topics planned for discussion include: advancing diamond benificiation in Africa, greenfield diamond exploration, strategies to market natural rough diamonds, leveraging the diamond industry for socio-economic development, and the importance of diamond trading centres in the global value chain. According to Diamond Loupe, the key objectives of the conference will be to "promote direct and mutually-beneficial relations between African diamond producing countries and the (Belgian) diamond industry, linking capacity building with higher revenues for diamond producing countries, as well as launching initiatives to foster good governance in the diamond industry." "We believe constructive dialogue between equal partners is essential as we confront the many challenges facing our industry," said AWDC CEO Ari Epstein, as reported by Diamond Loupe.