Mumbai: India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and ALROSA have agreed to work together more closely for resolution of a number of issues facing the diamond industry, following a recent meeting at the ALROSA headquarters in Moscow that GJEPC Chairman Praveenshankar Pandya had with newly appointed ALROSA president Sergey Ivanov and Vice Presidents Yuri Okoyomov and Andrey Polyakov. This was first meeting with the GJEPC since Ivanov recently assumed his new responsibility.

The two have agreed to forge greater collaboration on scientific, trade and regulatory initiatives for creating differentiation between natural and synthetic diamonds; to work towards enhancing the supply of rough diamonds to small scale manufacturers in India and to explore the creation effective price discovery mechanisms in rough diamonds.

Further, the two sides are also agreed to discuss the viability of collaboration for mining of diamonds in India, and creation of a road map for the enhancing employment within Russia through the development of a local jewellery manufacturing industry.

A proposed meeting between the two organisations that is expected to take place in early June on the sidelines of 21st St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, may formalise some specific aspects of the general collaboration agreed upon.

The ALROSA president also assured the GJEPC that the Company was fully committed to the generic promotion programme taken up by the DPA.

These conclusions were arrived at after discussions on a detailed presentation made by the GJEPC chairman covering the manner in which GJEPC-ALROSA ties have strengthened over the last few years; the importance of a well-funded generic promotion campaign to boost demand for diamond jewellery; the need for a more stable mechanism for supply and pricing of rough diamonds; and the importance of addressing the threats and challenges faced by the natural diamond industry.