UAE Promises "Year of Delivery" after KP Debacle
November 15, 23
(IDEX Online) - The UAE has taken over chairmanship of Kimberley Process (KP) for a second time, promising "a year of delivery", despite a chaotic plenary in Zimbabwe that ended last week without the usual end-of-session communique.
"Our work in the Kimberley Process holds greater significance than ever before," said Ahmed Bin Sulayem, executive chairman and CEO of Dubai Multi Commodities Center (DMCC), which is home to the Dubai Diamond Exchange.
"It affects millions of stakeholders, and it is our collective responsibility to contribute to the stability and prosperity of the economies that depend on us year after year.
The UAE last chaired KP in 2016, and was selected as 2024 chair at the Botswana plenary last November.
The KP plenary at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, ended last Saturday (11 November) with a walkout by the KP Civil Society Coalition (KPCSC) the observer group of mostly African diamond-producing countries, primarily over Russia's use of diamond revenue to fund its war in Ukraine.
KP was established by the United Nations in 2003 to ensure that unregulated rough diamonds do not enter the legitimate diamond market to finance conflict.
Pic shows Ahmed Bin Sulayem