HRD plans complete overhaul of structure

Departure of key industry players and government representatives from Antwerp�s High Diamond Council (HRD) has spark off the need for a new trade organization. The crisis culminated earlier this month in the resignation of HRD�s managing director Peter Meeus. Four government representatives and two large sightholders, Dilip Mehta of Rosy Blue NV and Chaim Pluczenik, also left HRD�s board.

Antwerp�s semi-commercial trade body has been torn by rifts between the different organizations that represent the sector and sit on HRD�s board. The tensions highlight a sharp schism between the interests of big and small industry players in the Belgian port city, which has effectively turned HRD into an ungovernable body.

According to Youri Steverlynck, spokesperson for the HRD, �The government officials on HRD�s board, which included Antwerp�s governor and mayor, no longer felt the HRD represented the trade. I think the political representatives are sending the market a strong signal by resigning from the board. They have closed the ranks for now in the hope that people will find a way out together,� said Steverlynck. A meeting had been scheduled at the Prime Minister�s office in Brussels next week in the hope of quelling the internal differences.

While there appears to be strong support for a complete overhaul of HRD�s structure, others, such as Rosy Blue�s Mehta, have hinted at the creation of an alternative organization giving the Indian diamond community, which represents over 60% of the trade in Antwerp, a larger say. �Indians need to work for themselves now,� said Mehta. �I think it is time that the Indian community, responsible stakeholders and other like minded groups form a parallel organization of their own,� he said. Such a move would severely undermine the Belgian trade organization, currently the largest employer in Belgium�s diamond sector. �The HRD as it is structured now is not in sync with what the trade needs,� said an industry source, adding a complete overhaul is inevitable. �The primary task is to re-think the way the different people and organizations are elected,� he said.