KP Chairperson, UAE’s Ahmed Bin Sulayem, recently visited the Central African Republic (CAR) soon after the first KP approved export shipment was dispatched from the Compliant Zone of Berberati within the country. The shipment totalled 3,702.89 carats.

During his visit, the first ever by a sitting KP Chair, Bin Sulayem met CAR’s President Faustin-Archange Touadera and newly appointed Minister of Mines Leopold Mboli Fratran. He also visited many townships and remote villages as part of his three-day trip, including the diamond areas of Carnot, Boda and Nola, where he also held workshops and town- local halls with miners and traders.

Stating that his visit was to see first hand the progress made at the senior level as well as on the ground, Bin Sulayem said, “The effective resumption of exports from CAR was one of the main priorities of the KP chairmanship 2016 and now, I’m able to see for myself what that means in real terms.” 

He added, “The people here are reliant on this industry - and the government is determined to work with the Kimberley Process at every level, to ensure they get it right, from the people’s perspective as well as from the government’s.”

Commenting on the meeting, President Touadera said, “It is a great pleasure to welcome the President of the Kimberley Process to Bangui. Mr Bin Sulayem has been a fervent supporter of ours, willing us to meet all KP mandates to enable us to ship our rough diamonds on to the international marketplace. His visit brings hope to our long-suffering diamond industry.”

The President also said that the country looks forward to fully integrating itself back into the international marketplace as soon as possible and expressed his thanks to “the efforts of Mr Bin Sulayem and this team for making this happen.”

It may be recalled that export of diamonds from the CAR were suspended three years ago, and it was only recently that the Kimberley Process CAR Monitoring Team (CAR MT) gave its approval for the resumption from the Berberati sous prefecture.

Pic caption: KP Chair with CAR President
Courtesy: Kimberley Process