Africa-Press – Botswana. HB Botswana operations provide an impressive example of value chain development potential in the diamond industry.
This is according to visiting Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi who toured the company’s offices in Gaborone Wednesday.
Mr Tshisekedi said he was particularly impressed with the cutting-edge technology HB Botswana used in diamond cutting and polishing.
Also impressive was the domestic human capital involved with about 20 young Batswana employed in the operation, he said.
HB Botswana, a strategic partnership between government and global diamond trader HB Antwerp, started operations at the beginning of the year becoming the mother company’s very first branch outside Belgium.
Government pledged a 24 per cent investment in HB Antwerp resulting in the birth of the local subsidiary, a diamond manufacturing company.
The operation sources diamonds from Lucara Diamond Corporation mines for cutting and polishing and selling to global markets.
Mr Tshisekedi’s visit to Diamond Technology Park as well as to the world’s richest diamond mine by value, Debswana Jwaneng Mine, is significant for solidifying mineral sector relations between Botswana and DRC, both endowed with diamond resources.
In their deliberations this week, both President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi and Mr Tshisekedi stressed the importance of pooling resources and working in concert in various aspects of trade, including mineral beneficiation, in order to achieve the aims of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
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