Guyana to sign conflict-free diamond protocol
Stabroek News
January 22, 2003
Prime Minister Sam Hinds yesterday announced that Guyana is to become a party to the Kimberley Protocol which governs international trade in rough diamonds.
A consultant from the World Diamond Council located in Belgium is in Guyana helping the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to put the various administrative and other arrangements in place.
The Protocol introduces traceability of the rough diamonds produced and sold on the world market to the diamond producing countries.
These arrangements are expected to be in place by the end of the month and the relevant documentation circulated to the participating countries, including South Africa, which presently chairs the council, by the first week of next month.
Prime Minister Hinds made the announcement at a press briefing he hosted yesterday at the boardroom of the Geology and Mines Commission, Brickdam. Among those present at the briefing were Commissioner, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Robeson Benn and consultant to the World Diamond Council, Martin van Bockstael.
The Kimberley Protocol was promulgated on November 5, 2002 at Interlaken, Switzerland to control trading in rough diamonds. According to the Prime Minister the Protocol was established as a way to limit the trade in rough diamonds from some African countries, the proceeds of which provide funds for the illegal trade in arms, the activities of rebel groups and fuelling armed conflicts. It has been of particular importance in relation to Sierra Leone.
However, Prime Minister Hinds commented that with the Protocol in place there should be no lessening on the focus to end the flow of arms.
He told reporters that the decision to be a party to the protocol is prompted by the need to maintain the country’s production of, and trade in diamonds.
The Prime Minister explained, too, that conforming to the requirements of the Protocol could involve extra costs occasioned by the need for additional record keeping and checks and for these to be verified by audits to determine the integrity of the system. “Depending on the nature and extent of these costs Guyana would welcome contributions to defray such costs.”
But he did not favour increasing the rate of royalty on diamonds as a way of meeting the additional costs but would favour some other measure being instituted.
The certification scheme instituted by the protocol, Benn said, requires the documentation of the movement of the diamonds from the day they were mined to the time of their ultimate sale whether in Guyana or overseas.
He added that the procedures also require that diamonds for export be packaged and sealed in the presence of officials from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and the Customs and Trade Administration of the Guyana Revenue Authority.
Benn also explained that existing legislation would have to be amended to address the issues of the certificate that must be provided to exporters and the authorised signatories of the certificates.
The certificate, which will contain a number of security features, is required to be signed by an official of the GGMC and another from the Customs and Trade Administration.
He said that the deadline for putting all the arrangements in place is January 31, and the end of the first week in the next month for circulating the relevant documentation to the other participating countries.
He disclosed that the original target date had been January 1.
Last year, according to Benn, diamond production reached an all-time high of 248, 436 carats and of this amount 245,000 carats were exported. He said the difference could be attributed to what he called “fines” and the amounts sold to local jewellers.
Benn said the protocol covered only the export of rough diamonds but explained that in any case the country’s small diamond polishing operations cannot compete with similar operations in India and China.
With the protocol in place, Benn said it was unlikely that countries which are not producers of rough diamonds would be listed as exporters of that commodity.
Benn said, too, that van Bockstael briefed the local miners and other stakeholders earlier in the day and was due to meet with them again. (Patrick Denny)
