From 5th to 12th April, the Russian Federation hosted a Review Visit of the Kimberley Process (KP). Its purpose was to conduct an assessment of the Russian Federation’s compliance with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) minimum requirements.
A total of 22 delegates representing by Angola, Belarus, Cameroon, India, Kyrgyz Republic, Qatar, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Venezuela and Zimbabwe as Team Leader visited Russia. The visit was led by Ezekiel Mafara, Head of Sales Department of the National Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, acting as Team Leader. Representatives of the World Diamond Council (WDC) also went to Russia.
During the visit, the delegates visited the Ministry of Finance of Russia, as the body responsible for determining the state policy in implementing the minimum requirements of the KP, in Yakutia at the diamond deposit of the company PJSC “ALROSA”, at the specialised Customs post of the Central Excise Customs, where state and Customs controls over the import and export of rough diamonds are carried out, and also visited to Sheremetyevo Airport in which most of shipments of rough diamonds arrive to and departure from Russia.
Evgeny Sidin, Deputy Head of the Department for State Policy of Precious Metals and Precious Stones sector, said, “The outcome of the review visit is that Russia fully complies with the KPCS requirements and fully corresponds to them. Moreover, Russia has experience and skills that can be implemented by other Participants as best practices.”
Ezekiel Mafara, commenting on the visit to Russia, noted: “We managed to visit all areas we expected to visit – we were at the deposits in Mirny and Nakyn, saw underground mining operations, open-pit mining operations, the mining and processing plant, sorting centre, and all the actions taking place there, procedures with diamonds carried out by customs authorities – in terms of arrival and departure of rough diamonds to or from Russian Federation.”
Speaking about the purpose and role of the KP, Ezekiel Mafara also commented: “The KP was able to bring together all participants for one common good, dissolving conflicts, particularly those that occurred on the African continent, and contributed to finding a way out of the situation. I think it is something with an achievement. As you may recall, 99% of the diamonds currently on the world market go through the KPCS. In other words, the KP managed to eradicate conflicts. Additionally, another advantage of the KPCS is the decision-making mechanism – this is done based on consensus.”