Gaborone — With Tuesday's launch of the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) Botswana, it took on a greater role in the global diamond business.

By the end of next year the joint venture company between the government and De Beers will be selling $550m worth of rough diamonds that has up until now been sold by De Beers' London-based operations.

The figure is small -- last year De Beers sold $5,9bn of rough diamonds globally, but the creation of DTC Botswana reflects a desire by the government, agreed to by De Beers, to establish an industry relating to diamonds that involves more than just mining the stones.

A consequence of the agreement is that 16 of De Beers's clients, or sightholders, which include such brand names as Tiffany, Graaf and Steinmetz, have set up a presence in the country. Their cutting and polishing operations would, by the end of next year employ as many as 3300 locals, De Beers said.

Botswana, which supplies 25% of the world's diamonds and is home to the world's richest diamond mine, is keen for a downstream industry to create jobs and teach skills . Beyond the business of sorting, cutting, polishing, marketing and selling diamonds, the government has set its sights on becoming a diamond centre.

"We are a diamond mining country, but we wish to be marketing diamonds, we want to be selling jewellery, we want to dovetail diamonds with tourism," said Akolang Tombale, permanent secretary of Botswana's minerals, energy and water resources ministry on Tuesday. "The hope is that bringing these together will facilitate other developments like banking, technology, security and related industries."

The DTC Botswana takes over the role of an earlier entity, the Botswana Diamond Valuing Company (BDVC). In the past the BDVC would make an initial appraisal of local stones before sending them to London, but the full sorting and valuing process will now take place in Botswana.

A similar change took place in De Beers' South African and Namibian operations last year. Botswana is the most significant producer for the company -- last year it produced 33,5-million carats, in comparison with SA's 15-million and Namibia's 2,2-million.

The DTC Botswana will now take on the process of "aggregating" all the stones from the region -- arranging them into packages for sale to clients -- a process which has until now been performed in London.