The International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA), the non-profit association that represents the international gemstone industry, said it recently appointed Pavel Sokolov as the new ICA ambassador to Russia, and Constantin Janho as the new ICA ambassador to Lebanon. These appointments signal the growing importance of these two countries in the international gemstone marketplace, it said. The ICA currently has 37 current ambassadors worldwide.

Sokolov is president and owner of Sokolov Co., Ltd., one of Russia�s three largest gemstone companies. Prior to founding the company in 1991, Sokolov worked as a senior geology researcher at St. Petersburg State University.

Janho is the owner of Tia Jewellery, a Lebanese wholesale and retail coloured gemstone business established by his father in 1950. In 2003, he became a member of the Dubai Gold & Jewellery Group and has served as a consultant to many in the Dubai jewellery trade.