Hong Kong: The World Diamond Mark Foundation (WDMF), and the Turkish Jewellery Exporters Association (JTR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding during a joint press conference held to announce the stepping up of cooperation between the WDMF and JTR. The MoU was signed in the presence of other Turkish partners, such as Borsa Istanbul and HRD Antwerp Turkey. At the press conference, the partners also introduced a new, joint international diamond and jewellery trade magazine, named the World Diamond Magazine. The cooperation with JTR comes in the wake of a recent agreement with Borsa İstanbul of Turkey to implement the programmes of the World Diamond Mark in Turkey.
“In practical terms, this means that the WDM’s first pilot programme for accredited retail members, i.e. Authorized Diamond Dealers (ADDs) will begin in Turkey, one of the most exciting, and rapidly growing luxury product consumer markets,” WDMF Chairman Alex Popov said. “The cooperation with the Turkish Jewellery Exporters Association and its mother organization, the Turkish Exporters Union (MIB), are a direct outcome of that endeavour, and it is only because of their support, infrastructure and inspiring enthusiasm that we are going to make it all happen in Turkey.”
“The cooperation between WDMF, JTR and MIB is like fitting our hand into a perfect glove,” JTR chairman Ayhan Güner, began. “Turkey, in recent years, has taken giant steps in the jewellery sector and its exports have risen rapidly, throughout the world. Our own, domestic market is also expanding rapidly, much helped by an influx of tourists who also buy jewellery. At the same time, we feel that there is a lot of room to not only improve our marketing, but also broaden our educational, branding and promotional efforts. For instance, the cooperation with HRD Antwerp is a good example of efforts we are making to improve the quality of diamond and diamond jewellery retailing and we are happy the HRD Antwerp has signed a MoU with WDM and will form the backbone of both the diamond grading activities and educational efforts in Turkey.And with the WDM programmes, in particular the WDM’s Authorized Diamond Dealers programmes for retail jewellers, we will be making headway in the generic promotion of diamonds and diamond jewellery. This will be good both for the domestic and exports markets of our products,” he added.
Çetin Ali Donmez, Vice President of Borsa Istanbul, noted that in past June, during the 36th World Diamond Congress in Antwerp, Borsa Istanbul and World Diamond Mark Foundation had already signed a memorandum of understanding in order to advance the implementation of the World Diamond Mark programmes in Turkey. “Borsa Istanbul aims to be an active representative of World Diamond Mark in Turkey, and to help improve and increase diamond trading, a significant component of Turkey’s jewellery industry, and to protect and educate retail jewellers and consumers,” Çetin said.
On occasion of the press conference, the first issue of a new, joint, quarterly trade magazine, called the World Diamond Magazine, was presented. Supported by JTR and MIB, the publication will serve as a platform to advance the WDMF’s objectives, i.e. the health and future growth of the diamond and jewellery industry in the luxury market sector through the creation of consumer demand, via a network of accredited retailers and generic marketing campaigns. As its chief partner in the project, JTR will showcase its industry and report on the implementation of the organizations’ joint efforts. A soft launch of the magazine’s first edition was held at last month’s Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair.
JTR Chairman Güner said he was very pleased with the launch of the World Diamond Magazine. “The cooperation between WDMF and JTR is an expression of our commitment to the downstream retail and consumer markets to adhere to the standards that the market had set out for us. We intend to make the Turkish jewellery industry and trade a flagship of our industry in what is today a highly competitive luxury consumer product market. Our cooperation with the WDMF and our involvement in the World Diamond Magazine are proof of that commitment,’ he concluded.
