{"id":49472,"date":"2024-05-31T10:24:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T10:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification"},"modified":"2024-05-31T11:06:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T11:06:22","slug":"us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification","title":{"rendered":"US Softens Stance On G7 Diamond Certification"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>The United States of America (USA) is softening its stance on signing off to place Antwerp, Belgium as the traceability and certification hub for internationally-traded diamonds in a bid to keep Russian diamonds off the market.<\/b><\/p>\n

The US is part of the Group of Seven (G7) alongside Italy, Japan, Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

The global group enforced installation of Antwerp as the world\u2019s diamond certification hub but the move was rejected by Botswana, Angola, Namibia and India in recent months.<\/p>\n

Sanctions on Russian diamonds<\/p>\n

According to global news publication Reuters, the US is now reconsidering its initial involvement in the industry shakeup that has left African and Middle Eastern countries marginalised.<\/p>\n

The news outlet suggests that the US, according to two government sources, has disconnected from the G7 as they are barely active in the talks but not engaging further.<\/p>\n

The G7 countries agreed on placing sanctions on Russian diamonds in December last year. The countries also agreed to sign off on having Antwerp as the certification hub this year.<\/p>\n

US distancing itself<\/p>\n

From September 1, the European Union\u2019s ban on Russian diamonds will require diamonds of 0.5 carats and above to pass through Antwerp for certification.<\/p>\n

However, the US is now distancing itself from the September directive and has not signed off to set it in motion. US officials are adamant that the September directive only applies to the EU while they have an open policy. Reuters reported that the US government has cooled its plans to enforce traceability and certification as talks have stalled.<\/p>\n

Concerns of African partners<\/p>\n

The US is worried by industry backlash from Botswana, Angola, Namibia, India and New York-based jewellers. One of the government sources stated that the US wants industry players such as African countries and the United Arab Emirates\u2019 concerns to be taken into consideration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to do this in a way that takes into account concerns from African partners and producers, takes into account Indian and UAE partners and makes sure we can also make it workable for the US industry,\u201d Reuters quoted a government official.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there a traceability mechanism that satisfies all of that? We\u2019re still engaged, we haven\u2019t walked away from the idea. On the other hand, we couldn\u2019t sign up definitely having this in place by September 1st.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDetrimental\u201d to Botswana<\/p>\n

Botswana has maintained its position of opposing the move because it would be costly and disrupt the industry.<\/p>\n

In March, Botswana\u2019s Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Lefoko Moagi, told the Rapaport News agency that the G7\u2019s import restrictions will have a \u201cdetrimental impact on Botswana\u2019s diamond trade and may reverse the gains the country has made in recent years\u201d.<\/p>\n

Moagi reiterated Botswana\u2019s view that the move would provide logistical challenges. \u201cIt creates added time in terms of processing our diamonds and it affects our beneficiation trajectory,\u201d Moagi was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis may bring about added costs and unintended consequences that will affect the producer countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. The United States of America (USA) is softening its stance on signing off to place Antwerp, Belgium as the traceability and certification hub for internationally-traded diamonds in a bid to keep Russian diamonds off the market. The US is part of the Group of Seven (G7) alongside Italy, Japan, Canada, France, Germany […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":49471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12,244],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-49472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nUS Softens Stance On G7 Diamond Certification - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The United States of America (USA) is softening its stance on signing off to place Antwerp, Belgium as the traceabili ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Softens Stance On G7 Diamond Certification\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The United States of America (USA) is softening its stance on signing off to place Antwerp, Belgium as the traceabili ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-31T10:24:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-31T11:06:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/05\/sm_1717140474.629122.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"976\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"US Softens Stance On G7 Diamond Certification\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-31T10:24:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-31T11:06:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification\"},\"wordCount\":524,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/05\/sm_1717140474.629122.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/us-softens-stance-on-g7-diamond-certification\",\"name\":\"US Softens Stance On G7 Diamond Certification - 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