Antwerp, February 17, 2011 – Registration is now taking place for the 2011 Presidents' Meeting of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) in the Botswana capital of Gaborone from April 4 to 7. The meeting's hosts, the Botswana Diamond Manufacturers Association (BDMA), is planning a top-level event to highlight Botswana’s important role in the global diamond business.
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"This gathering of the international diamond manufacturing business community event will be a first for Botswana," said BDMA president Mervin Lipschitz, "It will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase not only our thriving industry to the diamond world, but also the warm and receptive country within which we operate.”
IDMA President Moti Ganz noted that it was important to hold IDMA meetings in diamond producing countries. "We're honored to be hosted by the Botswana government and BDMA. Botswana is a prime example of how the diamond mining industry has contributed positively to the development of the economy and social structure of a previously disadvantaged country," Ganz stated.
The core event of the meeting will be on April 4, with the Botswana hosts staging a diamond industry "Stakeholders Roundtable," and panel discussion, entitled "The Diamond Beneficiation Pitso." Pitso is the Botswana word for an informal village, or townhall, meeting.
The Diamond Beneficiation Pitso will take place at the Walmont hotel at The Grand Palm of Gaborone between 9:00 and 12:00. On April 5, a Gala Dinner will be held in Gaborone in the presence of the Guest of Honor, His Excellency President Ian Khama.
Participants in the 2011 IDMA Presidents' Meeting will also have the opportunity to visit the rough diamond sorting facilities and offices of the Diamond Trading Company of Botswana, as well as a tour of the famous Jwaneng mine, led by the mine's top managers and engineers.
Monday, Jan 18th
Last update10:18:25 PM GMT
We’re all the same boat
During the past months, I have closely followed the developments in the global fashion industry, the luxury sector, and the diamond and jewelry business. The bottom line is that they are all connected. Sales of high fashion, luxury products, such as branded leather bags and shoes, as well as the fine jewelry business, all have been severely affected by the Covid-19 health crisis.
In the USA, department stores such as JC Penney and Neiman Marcus – beacons of the American retail landscape - have filed for bankruptcy.
It’s all connected.
In Europe, Inditex, the world’s largest fashion retailer, reported its first quarterly loss since it was taken public in 2001. While Inditex said it would close some 1,200 stores, it also announced that it would invest €1 billion IT upgrade as well as the opening of 450 new stores. Inditex, which owns Zara, stated it intends to gain 25 percent of its total revenue through e-commerce sales by 2022.
When the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was launched officially on January 1, 2003, it created for the first time in our industry’s history an ethical threshold that could be universally enforced.