DMCC Executive Chair presents speech at UN General Assembly

The Executive Chairman of the DMCC Ahmed Bin Sulayem delivered a speech in the United Nations General Assembly on the UN resolution - “The Role of Diamonds in Fuelling Conflict” based on results of the UAE Kimberley Process Chairmanship.

Recounting his experience as Chair of the Kimberley Process in 2016 he mentioned having visited 20 countries as representative of governments, industry and the civil society involved in the diamond trade. The 20 countries he identified were both existing and prospective Kimberley Process members. “Our belief is that everything we do in the Kimberley Process must support and direct work that is largely in the developing world,” he mentioned.

One of the significant meetings was to the Central African Republic, a country that had been excluded from the Kimberley Process. “The meeting was particularly important in providing assistance to the country in meeting its Kimberley Process requirements, and enabling the resumption of the country’s export of rough diamonds from newly compliant zones,” he said.

Referring to the draft resolution A/71/L.55, he mentioned it speaks of progress made by the Central African Republic regarding implementation of the administrative decision and operational framework to resume rough diamonds exports, and welcomes the decision of the Kimberley Process monitoring team to declare four sub-prefectures as “compliant zones. The draft resolution welcomes the resumption of participation in the Process by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and its commitment to hosting a review visit and that Gabon was encouraged to begin its process of admission.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem highlighted the three specific proposals made by the UAE as Chair in 2016, to strengthen the Kimberley Process - to establish a Permanent Secretariat which was welcomed and is included in the draft resolution; the draft resolution welcomes the willingness of the Kimberley Process to further discuss the UAE proposal to establish a multi-donor trust fund or similar mechanisms to financially support the participation of a wide range of Civil Society in the Process. Thirdly, the draft resolution includes elements that a methodology could comprise to arrive at for rough diamond valuation, although no consensus has been reached on a detailed proposal.