THE board of Belgium�s recently restructured Diamond High Council (HRD) elected Jacky Roth as president, while Kaushik Mehta and Stephane Fischler were nominated as vice-presidents of the organisation. Freddy Hanard, was elected as the new HRD managing director and will initiate an extensive study of the sector, the results of which will form the basis for future strategy.

The HRD is likely to handle all commercial activities separately and will co-ordinate all marketing and communication policies. �The principal objective of this will be to expand Antwerp�s position as the world diamond capital,� said the HRD in a statement. �Freddy Hanard has a two-fold advantage. On the one hand he knows the diamond sector inside out and was very recently already a member of the previous board of directors of the HRD,� said HRD spokesman Philip Claes. �The other advantage is that as a leading banker, he was enough of an outsider to meet the description of a privileged, objective observer,� he added.

Hanard noted that the diamond world is one of the most exciting trading sectors one can imagine. �This branch is, of course like so many others, constantly subject to new challenges, new developments and new trends. I see my greatest challenge as leading the Antwerp diamond world and in particular the HRD, into the third millennium,� he added.