A senior delegation from Israel, which included the heads of the Israel Ministry of Economy and the leadership of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) visited Angola recently. The delegation held meetings with key officials of the country’s rough diamond sector. “Initiated by IDE, the visit was meant to take advantage of changes in Angola’s diamond marketing policy to increase direct rough diamond sales to Israel,” the IDE explained.

The Israeli delegation was led by the Director General of the Israel Ministry of Economy Shay Rinsky, and included the Israel Diamond Controller Danny Tal; IDE President Yoram Dvash; Israel Diamond Institute Chairman Boaz Moldawsky; IDE Managing Director Eran Zini; and Rough Diamond Chairman Zvi Zamir. The visit was facilitated by the Israeli Ambassador to Angola Oren Rosenblatt.

Angolan Minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum Dr. Diamantino Azevedo met with this high powered delegation. At the meeting he outlined  his government’s policy of promoting trade with new markets; and said that the Israeli delegation represented an excellent opportunity to enhance bilateral trade ties.

The Israeli leaders also met with the Chairman of SODIAM (Angola’s national diamond trading company’s sales arm) Eugenio Bravo da Rosa. He agreed to a proposal to hold Angola’s first rough diamond tender in Ramat Gan, and to visit IDE within the next several weeks.

The delegation also met with the CEO of Endiama (Angola’s national diamond mining company) Dr. Jose Manuel Augusto Ganga Junior. He underlined the importance of the country’s diamond mining sector to Angola’s economy. 

“The Israel Diamond Industry is a major importer of rough diamonds, especially larger stones, which the Israeli industry specializes in polishing,” outlined a press release which announced the visit of the delegation. “In 2018 Israel imported close to US$ 3 billion in rough diamonds. To boost direct sales of rough diamonds to Israel, in 2017 IDE established a state of the art International Tender Center, which has hosted dozens of tenders by leading mining and rough diamond trading companies every year. This year IDE has also opened a centre for live diamond auctions.”

 IDE President Yoram Dvash said, “This was a very successful visit for the Israeli diamond industry. Israel and Angola have many common interests and we see a real opportunity to strengthen ties between the diamond sectors of both countries. We are very pleased that Angola is about to join the ranks of the major international diamond producers holding rough tenders in Israel.