Sourcing African Rough: Indian Government Backs Industry Efforts
March 27, 08
The Indian diamond industry’s ongoing efforts to develop direct purchase of rough diamonds from African producing countries has received a major boost from the Indian government, which is preparing to host the first-ever India-Africa summit in New Delhi on April 8.
Leaders of 14 African nations are expected to attend the summit, which is likely to end with a declaration on boosting trade and investments between
In preparation for the event, the Indian government’s Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, is heading a delegation on a six-day trip to
Namibia accounts for about 6 percent of global rough production. The delegation includes senior representatives of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).
The visit follows the fourth CII-Exim Bank India-Africa Conclave on Project Partnership 2008 held March 19-21, attended by 606 ministerial and business delegates from 30 African countries including 37 ministers, including the vice presidents of Tanzania and Ghana.
Ramesh has been actively involved with the efforts of the GJEPC to establish commercial ties with the African nations. A strong supporter of beneficiation, Ramesh has stressed that, “India is uniquely placed to respond to the challenge of building up human skills… in Africa, in different areas and it should leverage this to build long-term partnerships in diamonds as well, which must be embedded in the framework of broader economic and technological cooperation.”
Ramesh is expected to visit other diamond producing countries later this year, including South Africa and Botswana.
Cooperation with Africa has reportedly increased since the Mines to Markets diamond conferences in 2005 and 2007.
The initiatives on the diamond front are part of larger growing Indo-African business relationships on many fronts, which pushed trade to rise from $5 billion in 2001-02 to nearly $25 billion in 2006-07.