Ramat Gan: The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) announced that a delegation of the Antwerp Diamond Bourse (Beurs voor Diamanthandel) will join colleagues from the Diamond Dealers Club of New York to take part in the International Diamond Week at the Israel Diamond Exchange, from Monday, September 1 to Thursday, September 4.

“We’re very pleased that the Antwerp Diamond Bourse will be joining us in September and hopefully also at similar, additional opportunities,” IDE President Shmuel Schnitzer commented. “The International Diamond Week – in all of its formats – has a single, focused objective: to increase the trade done between members of our bourses on the trading floor, to enable our members to network, to create new business relationships and to bring more added value to our bourses’ members.”

The IDE president thanked the board of the Antwerp Diamond Bourse, and its president, Marcel Pruwer. “Our relationship with our Belgian colleagues has always been good. This is yet another step in strengthening our ties even further,” he stated.

Schnitzer said that, ultimately, in the international diamond business, traders still wanted to meet in person to develop new business relationships and ties. “Call us old-fashioned, if you will, but for diamond dealers, personal contact is still of the essence. While we have become accustomed – and very adept – in applying many other trading methods and sophisticated tools, most often, the basis of a business relationship between two diamantaires is based on a personal relationship of trust and familiarity. I actually believe that is never going to change,” Schnitzer concluded.