Ahmedabad: The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), the apex body of India’s gem & jewellery industry, is seeking to strengthen ties with Russia and Belgium further.
While India is the global diamond polishing hub, Russia is the largest producer of diamonds, and Belgium is the largest trading centre.
In a meeting with a high-level Alrosa delegation, GJEPC urged Russian diamond miner Alrosa to supply rough diamonds directly to diamond processors, especially the micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs).
GJEPC apprised the Alrosa team about its new auction platform Surat International DiaTrade Center (SIDC) in Surat, the global hub of diamond polishing. GJEPC called upon the Russian mining giant’s officials to extend their operations in the SIDC.
“Our meeting with Alrosa was an opportunity to chalk out our plans to further strengthen the diamond industry going forward. The direct sourcing of rough diamonds would help our MSME sector in a big way. We will soon submit a plan so that MSMEs would secure direct access of rough from the world leader in diamond mining,” said GJEPC chairman Colin Shah.
Alrosa’s deputy CEO Evgeny Agureev said India remains the most important centre for manufacturing diamonds and the third-largest diamond jewellery consumer. He said the discussions would further strengthen Indo-Russian cooperation in diamonds.
Russia accounts for nearly one-third of the total global rough diamond output in terms of volume. The miner estimates diamond output of 31.5 million carats this year, which could rise to 33 million.
Separately, Belgium’s ambassador to India, François Delhaye, led a delegation to the GJEPC regional office in Surat on Monday. Diamond industry representatives from Surat held discussions to strengthen bilateral trade between the two countries.
GJEPC regional chairman Dinesh Navadiya raised concern over Belgium’s requirement for biometric verification every five years for visa renewal and sought steps to ease the process. The industry representatives also apprised the delegation about the infrastructure and facilities created by GJEPC in the special notified zone at Surat.