The 18th Paris Gemmological Rendez Vous, the prestigious annual gems symposium organised by the Association Française de Gemmologie (the French Association of Gemmology) will take a comprehensive look at diamonds and the diamond industry, the association announced in a statement earlier this week.

With an impressive line-up of expert speakers, including members of the trade and industry professionals, the day-long event will look at the many challenges faced by the natural diamond industry in the current scenario from a variety of angles, AFG said.

Moderator of the symposium, Didier Giard, President of the French Association of Gemmology and a member of the French Academy of Overseas Sciences said that the topics covered will include synthetics and the volatile international market, with the distinguished panel sharing “their considered views, backed by years of experience, on the diamond industry from many different angles”.

Giard said that some of the themes that will be addressed are diamond mining, the current state of the market, coloured diamonds, the scientific, gemmological and historical aspects of natural diamonds, and more.

The speaker list in alphabetical order is:

• Alan Bronstein, President of the Natural Color Diamond Association
• Aurélien Delaunay, director of the French Laboratory of Gemmology (LFG)
• Richard Duffy, CEO, Petra Diamonds
• David Fisher, Principal Scientist, De Beers Technology 
• Stéphane Fischler, President of the World Diamond Council 
• Peter Karakchiev, Head of the International Relations Department, ALROSA
• Jim Pounds, Executive Vice-President Diamonds, Dominion Diamond Mines
• Martin Rapaport, Chairman, Rapaport
• Eddy Vleeschdraeger, Director at the Scientific and Technical Research Center for                 Diamonds (WTOCD - Belgium), author of "Hardness 10"
• Feriel Zerouki, Senior Vice-President of International Relations and Ethical Initiatives, De Beers

The symposium will take place on September 9, 2019, at: l’ASIEM, 6 rue Albert de Lapparent, Paris, France. There will be simultaneous French and English translation.

The organisers said that there are limited seats available and those wishing to register should contact gemmes7@orange.fr or write to giard.didier@gmail.com.