Luanda — An Angolan delegation will participate, from the 13th to the 17th of this month, in the Interim Meeting of the Kimberley Process, taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
According to a press release, the Angolan delegation will be led by the executive coordinator of the National Commission for the Kimberley Process (KP), Estanislau Buio, and will also include staff from the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, executive directors of Endiama, SODIAM, among other technicians.
The event will bring together representatives from 85 countries participating in the Kimberley Process Certification System (KPCS), Extractive Industry and civil society.
Lasting five days, the event will serve to discuss proposals for administrative decisions, within the framework of the ongoing Review and Reform of the Kimberley Process, with emphasis on the discussion and approval of the start of the activity of the permanent secretariat, scheduled for next June, in Gaborone, Botswana.
Also on the agenda are the discussion of the proposal for the Definition of Conflict Diamond, debate on the proposal to implement the KPCS co-presidency and co-vice-presidency.
The discussion and approval of the date of the Assessment Mission in the Central African Republic and the proposal for the new Kimberley Process logo is also scheduled, which also includes the presentation of several rough diamond traceability technologies to be debated.
According to the note, on the sidelines of the meeting, a forum on technology will be held on the 16th, at the same time that ambassadors from G7 member countries, accredited in the United Arab Emirates, will be invited to provide information about the capabilities of the traceability equipment that all KPCS participants can have to enable certification of the origin of their rough diamonds.
The idea, the document states, is to avoid the obligation on the part of producers that all rough diamonds be sent to Antwerp for the traceability process and, consequently, their certification.
The Kimberley Process System is the certification body for the origin of rough diamonds, established through Resolution 55/56 of 2000, of the United Nations General Assembly, which aims to prevent the purchase and sale of diamonds from conflict areas.
In 2000, several countries accepted the Kimberley Process, pledging to acquire only certified rough diamonds (with provenance confirmed by an official certificate) and to ban imports from conflict areas.
