The Fourth Antwerp Diamond Conference, is slated to take place on October 15 and 16 at the Belgian diamond centre. What makes this event of crucial importance is its subject of discussion - “Producers in Transition: The Changing Industry Dynamic”. The conference’s main focus would be to address the increasing insistence of southern African diamond producing countries to capture a larger share of the value chain. It will also address the setting up of the DTC Botswana facility at Botswana capital of Gaborone, which will open next year.

The government officials of Botswana, South Africa and Namibia, and Angola, which together supply more than 50 percent of the rough diamonds each year, have demanded that they no longer be restricted to supplying, while the other, higher added-value stages in the distribution pipeline occur primarily elsewhere.

For this, on their behalf, the countries have rewritten legislation to mandate that local cutting industries get first pickings on domestic production, and levies be imposed on rough exports. Also, concerns have been raised regards the viability of the fledgling African cutting industry, which faces stiff competition from India and China.

The conference has invited speakers including government officials from Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Angola; the heads of the major diamond mining producers, including De Beers, Alrosa, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto; heads of junior diamond producers in southern Africa; a panel of rough diamond market specialists; and senior banking officials. Also, an overall perspective will be delivered by Professor Joseph Stiglitz, the former head of U.S. President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors and the co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001.