Ernie Blom was unanimously re-elected President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses for the third consecutive two-year term during the recently concluded World Diamond Congress, the WFDB announced. Israel Diamond Exchange President Yoram Dvash was elected as the organisation’s Vice President.

Blom, expressing his ‘delight” with the debates and decisions taken in Dubai at the biennial meeting of the WFDB and International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) said: "I have attended many Congresses and this was definitely up there among the top events. There was an excellent atmosphere and a positive feeling that change for the better is happening after a difficult past year. This was seen in the very high level of attendance, with every session being full. I was delighted with the deep level of commitment and seriousness. The delegates are very concerned with the state of the industry and were determined to debate issues fully. This enabled us to make decisions based on a full airing of the views of our members.”

The  agenda covered a wide spectrum of relevant topics and issues including   the challenges of financing, price lists, synthetics, the policy of producers, supply chains and traceability, anti-money laundering, transparency in business, and tenders, as well as other issues.

“Among the major steps taken by the WFDB was the creation of an international Young Diamantaires group which the Federation regards as extremely important,” the press note from WFDB stated. “To this end, a group of younger members of diamond firms from the main diamond centres, including Israel, India, Belgium, the United States and South Africa as well as Australia, will communicate on a regular basis. The aim is to provide mutual encouragement regarding the challenge of leading the diamond industry into the future, as well as a platform for the discussion of relevant issues for the mutual benefit of members.”

During the Congress, all   discussions --  both formal and informal  --  were focused on the need for the  global diamond sector  to further increase the transparency of its operations and the integrity of the global diamond supply chain in order to maintain consumer confidence in diamonds and jewellery.  

"Our members work according to wide-ranging rules and regulations that ensure that diamonds are totally free of any possible suspicion, including U.N. resolutions, the Kimberley Process national legislation, anti-money laundering regulations, Know Your Customer programmes and the WFDB Code of Conduct and chain of warranties requirements,” Blom added. “The Federation's members do not currently endorse any private initiative, but we would like to put on record that we respect the right of all individual diamond companies to make agreements and implement protocols with other parties as they see fit, and that, together with the WFDB's rules and regulations that our members stringently follow, we are striving to guarantee a transparent supply chain. Furthermore, the WFDB is in ongoing communication with its affiliated diamond bourses to implement and enforce all relevant rules and regulations." 

The   WFDB and IDMA have announced that the next Presidents Meeting of the organisations, to be held in  2017,  will be hosted by the Bharat Diamond Bourse in India; while the 38th World Diamond Congress in 2018 will be hosted by the Israel Diamond Exchange.

Pic Cap: Ernie Blom