08 Oct 2024

Botswana has pledged  support for the Kimberley Process secretariat (KPS) office.

Officiating at the inauguration of the KP secretariat office in Gaborone yesterday, Minister of Minerals and Energy Mr Lefoko Moagi said Botswana had the desire to support all KP certification scheme (KPCS) activities.

He noted that the key initiatives to bolster KPCS included the consolidation of the KP successes, knowledge management, institutional memory and to nurture its evolution and adaptation given the reviews and reforms needed as well as research and development to keep the certification scheme fit for purpose.

Mr Moagi said the secretariat was a significant milestone for the Kimberley Process and that it had never had a permanent home since inception in 2003.

Furthermore, the minister said Botswana bid to support the office in kind and financial, adding that the country would provide a fully furnished office, including its maintenance for the first three years of operation. Financially, he said Botswana would provide 20 per cent,of operational costs in the first year, followed by the subsequent two years.

Mr Moagi also said it was befitting that Botswana was hosting the KP secretariat office to illustrate its position as a leading producer of diamonds by value in the world.

“Our name in the diamond industry must be engraved in the hall of fame for our excellence in ensuring that our diamonds are for development,” said Mr Moagi.

He said in the KP secretariat Botswana had an international organisation that it would travel with on the journey to take the country to a high-income status. Furthermore, Mr Moagi said as a founding member of the KP, Botswana was motivated to host the secretariat because of the value and importance that diamonds had and continued to play in the country’s economy and development.

He said Botswana also wanted to improve the efficiency of its implementation and to contribute to its evolution to stay relevant and fit for purpose in the dynamic global diamond trading market. In addition, he said  Botswana was also interested in preserving the integrity of the diamond industry.

He noted that diamonds were the mainstay of Botswana’s economy, and that there was no greater motivation than to host the KP secretariat in order to continue the legacy and the spirit of the KP certification scheme.

Minister Moagi noted that KP was established and mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to stop the trade in conflict diamonds and to ensure that they did not enter the mainstream diamond market.

Currently,  he said KP had 55 participants representing 85 countries, and that the European Union was represented collectively. He highlighted that the KP had over the last 23 years served as a tool for doing good and assisting humanity to utilise revenue from diamond sales to achieve the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development rather than a cause of conflict.

Established by Southern African diamond-producing countries in 2000, the KP aims to protect the legitimate trade in rough diamonds.

Minister Moagi said the Kimberley Process has managed to deter conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate trade in rough diamonds and that the process managed to achieve a 99 per cent conflict free diamond trade.

The chairperson of the Kimberley Process, Mr Ahmed Bin Sulayem said the establishment of a permanent secretariat was one of the core goals this year and that it would ensure that the process continued to operate autonomously and effectively in the long-term. He further congratulated Mr Bojun Tang as the executive secretary of the KP secretariat. ENDS