Kimberley Process: Mozambique may be admitted in November – Noticias

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Kimberley Process: Mozambique may be admitted in November – Noticias

8:03 CAT | 20 Aug 2021

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Noticias]

Mozambique hopes to be admitted to the Kimberley Process – a worldwide mechanism governing the legal sale of diamonds – in a plenary session in Russia in November.

As part of this process, a second international assessment mission is expected in Maputo next month, to assess Mozambique’s efforts towards admission to the process.

The World Diamond Council’s first mission, in 2016, two years after Mozambique’s initial application, concluded that the country did not meet the minimum requirements for admission to the process, issuing several recommendations.

At a meeting held in June this year, Mozambique claimed progress in fulfilling the 2016 mission recommendations, which led members to decide to send another mission in September.

Speaking to ‘Notícias’, the executive secretary of the Kimberley Process Management Unit (UGPK), Castro Elias, expressed hope as to Mozambique’s admission to the mechanism, pointing out that, in addition to an executive secretariat, Mozambique has also created a National Kimberley Process Council and approved the Kimberley Process Certificate.

Elias also noted that Mozambique has created technical teams, training technicians in the evaluation of diamonds, and built warehousing with all the necessary safety equipment, through which exports will be made.

“These were the recommendations left by the international mission that visited Mozambique, comprising representatives of the European Community, countries in the region led by South Africa, and others from the World Diamond Council,” Elias said.

Having complied with the recommendations, he said, Mozambique sent the letter to the Kimberley Process, which culminated in an invitation to the intercession meeting held in June, at which Mozambique’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Max Tonela, presented the above-mentioned progress.

“Because the response to the presentation was positive, the commission promised to send a second evaluation mission in the second week of September, to come and see what Mozambique says it has done with a view to the country’s admission during the November plenary session,” he explained.

The UGPK executive secretary maintains that Mozambique’s admission to the Kimberley Process will bring great benefits, including the entry of companies interested in prospecting and mining for diamonds, providing Mozambicans with jobs and state revenue, as well as increasing exports.

Source: Noticias