India has formally assumed chairmanship of the Kimberley Process Certificate Scheme (KPCS) for 2008. The new Indian KP chairman is O.P. Arya, the additional secretary in the Indian ministry of commerce and industry.

In its role, India will host a meeting of the KP committee members in New Delhi during in June 2008, while the annual plenary will be in November. Also, the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has planned to organise a statistical workshop in March 2008, on behalf of the Indian government.

According to a statement release, India was appointed in November 2006 to take on vice chair for 2007 and chair for 2008. It is the sixth to chair the KPCS, flowing South Africa, Canada, Russia, Botswana and the European Commission.

“India will extend all possible assistance to participants to build effective internal controls and work in close cooperation with UN, KP participants, industry and civil society in order to continue the remarkable progress achieved by the scheme in the past few years,” the statement noted. The KPCS was started in 2002 to curtail conflict diamond from entering the global trade.