Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA is fully capable of certifying its own diamonds and is concerned that the ‘single rough node’ approach introduced by the European Union (EU) would increase transaction costs for Namibia and reduce the competitiveness of Namibian diamonds in the international market, said the State House in a statement. The statement comes as it dismissed a “sensational” and “misleading” front-page report published Thursday by a local daily newspaper about King Philippe of Belgium allegedly sidestepping President Nangolo Mbumba’s call to lift the ban on Russian diamonds.
The Presidency clarified that the front-page headline was sensational and fundamentally misrepresented the President’s comments, which are also contained in a February 2024 letter to the G7 countries, co-signed with Presidents João Lourenço and Mokgweetsi Masisi of Angola and Botswana, respectively.
Contrary to the inference and the misleading headline, Namibia cannot speak for the Russian Federation in its dealings with Belgium or the European Union.
“Therefore,” the Presidency said, “at no point did President Mbumba call for a lift on the ban of Russian diamonds by G7 nations. President Mbumba raised concern about the way in which the ban was to be implemented, with the sole concern about the unintended negative consequences for the economy of Namibia.
President Mbumba highlighted his concerns regarding the potential economic impacts for Namibia, stemming from the G7’s new regulations to require all non-Russian diamonds destined for the G7 to be routed through a single verification node in Antwerp, Belgium. Namibia objects to this new requirement, as Namibia is fully capable of certifying its own diamonds and is concerned that the ‘single rough node’ approach would increase transaction costs for Namibia and reduce the competitiveness of Namibian diamonds in the international market. This requirement therefore risks undermining Namibia’s ability, as well as that of other African diamond producers, including Botswana and Angola, to trade their diamonds freely on the international market, particularly into the EU.”
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