ICA Executive Director Barbara Lipatapanlop spoke at the conference on the education and promotion of colored gemstones and indicated that the response to her talk was enthusiastic. "I found the jewelry manufacturers and designers at the conference to be very interested in colored gemstones and received numerous requests from leading members of the industry to provide information on buying gems and for assistance in furthering gemstone education".

Tawhid Abdullah, Chairman of the Dubai Gold & Jewellery Group, agreed that there is a need for education on gemstones at both the trade and consumer levels and has confirmed the Dubai Gold & Jewellery Group will call on the expertise of ICA in achieving this. "We have agreed that after the conference we will work with ICA in creating educational programs which are greatly needed in our market", the chairman stated.

The many speakers at the conference included CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri; Moaz Barakat, managing director of the World Gold Council in Dubai; Anan Fakhreddin, director for the Gulf, Diamond Trading Center (DTC) who together formed a panel that included Lipatapanlop after the formal presentations to answer questions from the audience.

For more information or photographs contact:

International Colored Gemstone Association

19 W. 21st Street, Suite 705

New York, NY 10016

USA

Tel: 1-212-620-0900

Fax: 1-212-352-9054

ica@gemstone.org