The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) is hosting a delegation of representatives of the Zimbabwean government, the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) and the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), in Antwerp, further underlining and strengthening ties between Antwerp and Zimbabwe. The AWDC, ZMDC and MMCZ will be discussing the organization of the first Marange diamond tender to be held before the end of this year.

Antwerp holds its repute as the world’s prime diamond trading hub, and Zimbabwe as one of the major African diamond producing countries in the world.

This effort is the outcome of meeting held two weeks ago, between Zimbabwean Ministers, representatives of the local diamond mining industry and a delegation of AWDC in Harare. Following the lifting of the EU sanctions against ZMDC, Marange diamonds are now allowed for trading in Antwerp, which is expected to have a highly significant and positive impact on the necessary market transparency. In addition, Antwerp is convinced that the combination of solid transparency, accountability and potentially increased mining revenues will contribute to a sustainable social and economic development of Zimbabwe.

In his recent speech during the AWDC Networking event in Harare, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Mines and Mining Development Hon. Walter Chidhakwa noted: “We want to ensure that beyond meeting the KPCS requirement, to secure the sector, to ensure that the process by which our diamonds are mined, marketed and logistically moved to other countries has the same level of transparency as those marketed elsewhere in the world”.