The 9th African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA) ordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers began here yesterday amid calls for member States to harmonise diamond policies and enhance sharing of ideas to realise value from the natural resource.
The high-level conference is being attended by members and observers and will end tomorrow when President Mnangagwa is expected to officiate.
It is a platform for discussion on rough diamonds beneficiation and value addition. At least 60 percent of world diamonds come from Africa, yet the continent has limited cutting and polishing services.
Mines and Mining Development Minister, Zhemu Soda, who chairs ADPA on behalf of Zimbabwe, said major challenges such as lack of access to financing and enablers and infrastructure and regulatory bottlenecks, have been identified as focus areas for discussion as they impact on value addition.
"We are here in Victoria Falls until March 14 for the 9th ordinary session of the Council of Ministers meeting as ADPA.
"It started with a session on beneficiation and focusing on sharing of information, ideas and strategies on how to realise value from natural diamonds," said Minister Soda. "There were presentations on benchmarking frameworks and industry perspectives and we had various perspectives that have been presented, especially on opportunities.
"We will continue with presentations but so far, some challenges have been indicated and most of them are common. Most of the common challenges are on financing issues where beneficiation requires a lot of funding, especially for procurement of raw materials and processes involved hence there is a need for working capital in the process of value addition and beatification."
Minister Soda added that infrastructure and enablers such as electricity are some of the forces that could affect the beneficiation of diamonds.
"There was also focus on regulatory frameworks where there is need to align our legislation to speak to the new agenda for beneficiation. There has been a call for review of the various legislative requirements and provisions of various countries and harmonisation of diamond policies to speak with one voice," he said.
As ADPA chair, said Minister Soda, Zimbabwe has achieved some milestones including fostering unity among member States.
When the country took over the chair from Tanzania, there were some policies that needed to be clarified with ADPA members.
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"So, we have dealt with the issue of policies and we shall have a session here where some policy documents will be endorsed. We have also been able, during our tenure, to establish an executive directorate as previously there was a management team, which was not sustainable," said Minister Soda.
"We have had challenges during our time as you might be aware, that is when the G7 countries intended to come up with their protocol on how diamonds are to be segregated and how they will be traded or marketed, which was opposed to what has been obtaining previously.
"It's something that is still a challenge for all ADPA members but I am happy that we now have a common approach to challenges and we are able to work together as an African family," he said.
Participants also spoke about the need for ADPA members to take their place on the world market and guard against the threat of laboratory diamonds by promoting natural diamonds.
There was a call for diamond producers to make deliberate steps to access e-markets and position themselves correctly to take up emerging opportunities.
Diamond producing nations were also challenged to have a coordinated approach and work together in value-adding their diamonds and preventing the export of unprocessed minerals.
