Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana has joined an African-led global marketing agreement aimed at promoting natural diamonds to ward off competition from the synthetic diamonds market.
Named the Luanda Accord, the marketing initiative brings together the world’s leading diamond producing countries and key stakeholders to pledge a unified financing backing for a campaign to promote natural diamonds.
Milestone
Botswana, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola joined forces with industry stakeholders such as the De Beers Group, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), Natural Diamond Council (NDC), Gem and the Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) to sign the monumental agreement in Luanda, Angola last Wednesday.
In accordance with the agreement, Botswana and the other African countries in the agreement have each agreed to commit 1% of their diamond sales revenue to fund the campaign to protect and promote the future of natural diamonds.
A major turning point
Industry experts have hailed the initiative as a major turning point for the diamond sector as it is expected to highlight the positive economic and social benefits that the natural diamond industry brings to the producer countries’ communities.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Luanda, the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Bogolo Kenewendo, stated that formulating a unified voice that protects the future of natural diamonds is a long overdue development.
“One carat, one community and one life changed,” she said. “We need to move from fragmented messages to united storytelling. Africa must lead a global strategy to market diamonds. We will be the real storytellers who connect diamonds with consumers.”
A new desire, a new generation
The CEO of De Beers, Al Cook, stated that the move could create a new desire for natural diamonds. “Today, for the first time in history, Africa’s major diamond producing nations came together to support the marketing of ethical diamonds,” he said.
“By signing the Luanda Accord here in Angola, we expressed our intention to fund marketing that tells the true stories of these diamonds and creates new desire in a new generation.”
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